After suffering a humiliating loss in their season opener, the Kolkata Knight Riders defeated the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati with ease. The way a player like Moeen Ali performed on his KKR debut would have thrilled the reigning champs. After Sunil Narine was ruled out of the game due to sickness, the seasoned Englishman was added at the final minute.
In the end, Moeen was the ideal alternative, conceding only 23 runs in his four overs while taking the crucial wickets of Nitish Rana and Yashasvi Jaiswal. When Moeen thought back on his performance, he believed that staying true to the fundamentals enabled him to give a powerful performance.
“I was just trying to do my job. Obviously, Sunil (Narine) was a big miss for us. Just tried to stick to my strengths and spin the ball as much as I can, and just contain.” said Moeen at the post-match press conference.
The slower surface in Guwahati, which provided purchase for the spinners, proved advantageous to the Englishman. Moeen picked up a little bite from the surface as soon as he entered the bowling attack, and his accuracy made the middle overs extremely challenging for the batters. Due to his spell and Varun Chakaravarthy’s magic, RR lost five wickets and only scored 56 runs in the nine overs that were bowled following the PowerPlay.“It was a good wicket, had a bit of everything. A bit of spin, a bit of seam. Obviously it spun nicely but not massive spin, just enough spin. A bit tacky but a nice ground to play, I’ve played here in the warm-up games and it was nice. It was nice that there was a bit of spin for us.”
It was a game where everything fell into place for KKR right from the toss which proved crucial, considering the slight amount of dew that fell later in the evening. For the side still smarting after the humiliation at Eden Gardens in the season opener, Moeen underlined the importance of getting off the mark at the earliest.
“It’s nice to get a win within your first couple of games so that you don’t overthink things. Today was a great team performance, everyone bowled well against a good side. We contained really well and never really let them get ahead of the game, which then made our batting a bit easier with Quinny (de Kock) playing the way he did was outstanding.”
Given how RR began with a 54-run PowerPlay, there were no early indications that KKR would be able to establish a stranglehold. The new ball did have some grip when pace was removed, though, so it was also clear that this wouldn’t be a surface for 250 runs. Jaiswal and substitute captain Riyan Parag seemed to have gotten off to a strong start until spin was introduced, but Sanju Samson was dismissed for failing to get off the blocks fast.
The KKR’s middle-overs squeeze that essentially won them the match was set in motion by Moeen’s opening over, the seventh of the RR innings, which went for just five runs. While his aggressive spin twin Varun exploited his mystery to tie down the batsmen, the off-spinner used his defensive skills to choke an end up. RR’s innings consequently took a sharp turn for the worse and never came back. Moeen stated how Varun’s and his opposing spinner styles complement each other well.
“My job was to keep it tight, so that he can build the pressure and maybe get wickets. I’m used to bowling with someone who is better than me and has more mystery than me. My job is to bowl as tight as I can and hopefully that builds pressure for that person to then get wickets. Varun is bowling outstandingly well as we know and he is a brilliant bowler. He has improved so much over the last two-three years. It is amazing to bowl with somebody like that.”
Moeen’s ripping off-break to castle Nitish Rana was his greatest play of the game. A pitch that drifted in on middle-and-off freed up the left-hander, who is renowned for his skill against spinners, and spun away swiftly to remove the off bail. The delivery of a dream off-spinner. Naturally, Moeen was thrilled with that ball as well.
“That ball was a nice one. I was just trying to spin it as much as I can. I knew that there was a bit of pressure being built and I just tried to bowl in a good area, spin it as much as I can. I don’t have the skill as other bowlers but my job is to contain as much as I can, not get hit for six over my head. If they play good shots and hit me for fours and sixes, then I’m pleased with that. My skill is that I think like a batter, so I think what they think and it works in my favour.”
After a string of high-scoring matches when even totals of 240 or more didn’t seem secure, the RR-KKR match provided a pleasant respite. Since the 2023 season, run-scoring in the IPL has been at an all-time high due to flat pitches, short dimensions, and the additional buffer of the Impact Player rule. Given how this year has begun, there may be many more incredible scores available in the days ahead. For this reason, in order to give the format greater balance, games like the one in Guwahati also need to occur a little more frequently. Although Moeen accepted the reality, he believed that bowlers must develop their abilities in this harsh format.
“India is a great place to bat. But on wickets like this, you aren’t going to get 300, you probably aren’t even going to get 200. It’s great to have these games in between those (high scoring) games. Big scoring games are great to see but it also gives a false sense of security, which is a bit too much. The game is developing fast and people are just fearless at the moment. The bowlers do have to come up with something, it is more important than ever before.”
