Image Credit- BCCI
IPL 2024 has been about huge hitting and record team totals, even though there has been some reprieve for bowlers recently due to surfaces slowing down somewhat and the frequency of 200+ totals declining along with it. One of the reasons for this is the impact player rule. However, Kuldeep Yadav believes that bowlers need to have bravery and keep in mind that they “have more chances of taking wickets” when they are faced with such “non-stop hitting”.
“Every team is now trying to attack in the powerplay and score as many runs as possible,” Kuldeep said at a press event in Delhi recently. “It slows down a bit in the middle overs because of the open field, so the batters are playing more freely in the powerplay. Those days are gone when teams used to target 45-50 runs in the powerplay. But I think the bowlers must show more courage. If a batter goes for the attack, then a bowler also has more chances of taking wickets.
“I feel that the bowlers are trying more to read the batters’ mind instead of sticking to their strengths. They are trying to bowl where the batter looks a little weak. But I think a bowler should understand his strengths and back his strengths. You can see Jasprit Bumrah, who backs his strengths. The way he bowls, any batter is on the back foot. He dominates the batters mentally. All these things become very important.”
Naturally, Bumrah has been one of the few exceptions this season. He is the joint-highest wicket-taker at this point with 17 wickets, and he is a bowler who has been difficult to score off, with the greatest economy rate among frontline bowlers at 6.25.
Kuldeep has been excellent overall, but he is lower on both tables with 12 wickets from eight bowling innings and an economy rate of 8.45. And a great illustration of what he means was shown on April 20 in Delhi during the Delhi Caps’ matchup with Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team that first broke and then rebroke the record for the greatest IPL total this season. Despite giving up 55 runs in SRH’s 266 for 7, Kuldeep returned with four wickets, taking out Travis Head, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Aiden Markram, and Abhishek Sharma.
“If you are not confident then you will be in a defensive mindset,” he said. “On the other hand, if you are confident, then you are ready to bowl even in the powerplay. I am now ready for all the challenges and always look to take wickets. My self-confidence has increased, and I have a lot of faith in my skills. I see how the batter is batting and how I have to bowl to him. I think where should I bowl to him so that he has a little difficulty in hitting.
“Sometimes you can get hit even on good balls, like it happened to me during the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. [Heinrich] Klaasen and Abhishek hit sixes on good balls. But I believed in my skills, and I also got wickets that day. Now I enjoy my bowling more and I have learned all this from experience.”