IPL 2021: KKR vs MI – Not many captains prefer using spinners to bowl with the new ball. With batsmen taking advantage of the powerplay and most fielders inside the circle, spinners have the most chances of getting punished. But Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), in order to find an edge over Mumbai Indians, started with spinners from both ends and continued that until the 5th over. KKR captain Eoin Morgan’s strategy was unique considering he wants to balance the record books against MI to whom KKR have lost 21 times in 28 matches. Harbhajan Singh began the attack with Varun Chakravarthy from the other end.
Eoin Morgan’s strategy did result in a wicket but Suryakumar Yadav got the better of Harbhajan Singh in the 3rd over, smashing him for 14 runs. That forced Morgan to bring in pacer Pat Cummins.
KKR vs MI- Why did Eoin Morgan give most overs to spinners in the beginning?
There are multiple theories on why both spinners were used to start the bowling attack in the match against MI.
Theory 1: Slow Cheapauk pitch: Considering Chennai MA Chidambaram Stadium has the slowest pitch amongst all the other venues, spinners could get the job done for KKR. The turning track and Varun Chakravarthy’s variation did the job in his second over, getting Quinton de Kock out.
KKR vs MI – Theory 2: Dew factor: While Chennai is not known for the dew factor compared to Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, it could still come into the picture in the middle overs. That means spinners will have a hard time gripping the ball and will miss the line and length more often and will be punished by big hitters of Mumbai Indians.
Theory 3: Big hitters: MI have some big hitters in Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Keiron Pollard amongst others. If spinners were introduced after the powerplay, those big hitters would have punished every wrong ball. Morgan might not have wanted to take that risk.
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