MATCH STORY
Follow UsThis hasn’t been the pink health season for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowling unit. While Deepak Chahar’s injury-marred season saw yet another miserable addition to an already painful list, Mustafizur Rahman and Mahesh Pathirana became T20 World Cup casualties.
Under that circumstance, Stephen Fleming and company turned their heads towards a bowler in their camp who had just existed but hadn't played in a long time.
Simarjeet Singh had played six games for the Super Kings in 2022. Again, an injury to Chahar allowed a then 24-year-old Simarjeet to bowl 18 overs for four wickets at an economy of 7.7. He wasn’t easy to put away, largely because of his length control. But taking wickets was still an issue.
While his default length lay between the good and back of a length back then (33.3% deliveries back of a length or short), his average speed (excluding the slower deliveries) was between 135-140 kmph.
He was able to restrain the batters to an extent. But not trouble them.
This year, the story of Simarjeet's bowling is similar but a level above what it used to be.
Simarjeet appeared in the XI for the first time this season against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamshala. On an uncharacteristically sticky deck in the Himalayas, Simarjeet’s frustrating, hard-length bowling ensured that CSK didn’t miss Pathirana’s seething yorkers.
He bowled 14 out of his 18 balls on a back of a length, gave just 11 runs and sent back Ashutosh Sharma (through an extremely smart slow change-up delivery) and Jitesh Sharma (by making him chase a short and wide delivery). PBKS were sans any finisher or finish in that game. Simarjeet ensured that.
In the following fixture, he struggled. He struggled enough to concede 60 runs in 24 deliveries, and the Titans reached 231/3.
However, the next game was at Chepauk. And guess what? We were greeted to a typical Chepauk deck when CSK took the field today (May 12), which has been like the Eid’s moon this season. Simarjeet’s back-of-a-length bowling was always going be a big arrow in the quiver of Ruturaj Gaikwad on the track.
As it turned out, he wasn’t only the biggest arrow. He was also the most lethal arrow.
He bowled nearly 80% deliveries short and got hit from that length, although he did pick Yashasvi Jaiswal by targeting that hard length, which has troubled him this season (five dismissals).
Today, Simarjeet showed that he has the smarts to alter his bowling according to the surface. He got wickets by enticing the batters to play their shots by pitching it full outside off. Jos Buttler succumbed to the scoring pressure and when he miscued a scoop and got caught at fine leg, the Royals had lost two wickets in 8.1 overs and had only scored 49.
He similarly dismissed Sanju Samson by denying him the time to get the elevation on his down-the-ground hit. Just like that, Simarjeet had crippled RR’s top order which has set them the platform for big totals this year.
In three games this season, Simarjeet now has five wickets, largely focusing on the back of a length, from where he has given runs at a spectacularly low economy of 6.5. He has been hit while he has gone short, but this clear development in his bowling from his last season can be attributed to the extra pace he has added in his bowling.
His average speed has gone up by 2 kph, and his determination to keep the ball in that hard-length area has earned him his success. By this strategy, not only has he given runs at just 7.9/over in the middle overs phase, but he has picked all his wickets in the same phase, too.
He is someone who CSK can rely on going into the fag end of the tournament and towards earning the ultimate glory for their legendary mascot and wicketkeeper.
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