IPL final: Can the combination of leg-break and slider from Varun Chakaravarthy fox Heinrich Klassen?
Cummins vs Shreyas
Iyer has been the counter-attacking batsman in the middle overs, repelling pressure. Cummins has the goods to trouble him though, and it won’t be a surprise if he doesn’t just rely on short balls in slow conditions in Chepauk. He has the fast nipbacker, the straightener that can pitch on off and hit off stump, the slower bouncer. Iyer is a batsman who likes to predetermine and manoeuvre when at the crease. Cummins excels in reading minds, and lays traps not just with the obvious deliveries like those listed above. He even fools batsmen into thinking he is bowling to their strengths. Like he did against Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, with back-of-length kickers seemingly on middle and leg, but those that just about straighten on that line. Both batsmen went instinctively for the swat-pull but the late straightening allied with bounce induced top-edges.
Starc vs Head
Travis Head showed in the last game that he is now ready to be careful in the first 10 deliveries. If ego or the occasion doesn’t get to his head, he is likely to do the same against Mitch Starc. Going by his past, Starc isn’t a kind of bowler to try something different from what has worked and the safe assumption is that he will gun for Head with his away-curlers on a good length around middle and off. That ball has knocked out Head even in Australian domestic cricket even when he hasn’t been trying to smash them. He has made technical changes recently, with the angle of his bat-pick-up – it used to almost veer to leg and middle and open up towards the off. Now he brings the bat much straighter so he isn’t chasing away from the body and this has made him more compact. Still, that Starc’s pacy curler has hurt him. But if he doesn’t blindly slog, can he push Starc to change plans?
Klaasen vs Chakravarthy
Two players who attack by keeping things unique but simple. Heinrich Klaasen doesn’t let his feet get in the way, relying on the knee-flex, body-positioning and the willingness to wait for the ball to come to him. Varun Chakravarthy has worked hard to ensure his release position is almost the same for googly and the legbreak, that he has started to bowl more than before in the last two years. He has also increased his pace, raised his release position, which had fallen down a couple of years in his then pursuit of adding more deliveries. Both have embraced minimalism and rediscovered success. Expect the leg break away from the off stump before the quickish slider rasps in on the middle stump to try to make Klassen miscue.
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