IPL 2022: Should KKR go back to opening with Narine? Why Tilak Varma could be key to MI’s middle order? Burning questions from KKR vs MI clash – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

A hysterical cameo from Pat Cummins has left us all spellbound as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed their nemesis, Mumbai Indians, with four overs to spare in what appeared to be a close game until the Australian walked in to bat. The 14-ball half-century is the joint-quickest in the IPL, but more than that, how did he do it again against Jasprit Bumrah and his team? That and a few other burning questions from the clash.

Why Tilak Varma could be a big presence in MI’s middle-order this season

In his three outings in the 2022 season, the 19-year old Tilak Varma has 22 (15), 61 (33), and 38 (27) from the middle-order with his game awareness and confidence in handling pace and spin standing out. He might still be a rookie, but Tilak could be a huge part of how Mumbai Indians shape up this season and ahead.

As the only left-hander in the middle-order, Tilak will be required to take down the leg-spinners, a favourable match-up. So far, he has done that brilliantly, scoring 50 in 30 deliveries against them in these three matches, a strike-rate of 166.6. What’s interesting is that he has maintained the exact same strike-rate against off-spinners, an unfavourable matchup for a left-hander, while also scoring at nearly 130 against pace.

Mumbai Indians have a gem in their hands, and even with the added responsibility of being the lone left-hander, batting around the likes of Kieron Pollard, Tim David, Suryakumar Yadav, and the inexperienced Anmolpreet Singh or Dewald Brevis, Tilak has shone through.

How MI got the Dewald Brevis call perfectly right

Mumbai Indians might have lost the game, but they got a few tactical calls spot on. One of them was showing the bravado to play Dewald Brevis and then handing him the crucial No.3 spot. Having lost two in two matches, Mumbai went to Brevis for a key fixture and then were smart enough to give him the best spot from where he could make an impact.

Trying an untested player early in the season is something Mumbai Indians have looked to do time and again with Marco Jansen making an appearance last year in the first game they played. This way, MI hit upon their best combination within the first few matches and take off from there.

At No 3, walking in to bat inside the powerplay, Brevis was eased in against pace, something he is used to facing in South Africa. Showing remarkable intent, Brevis took on the quicks and handled the spinners with ease. It was also a way of promoting KKR to use up a couple of overs from their mystery spinners earlier and it worked fine as Brevis handled them well and left Suryakumar Yadav with a decent platform to build from.

Can KKR find a way to not use Cummins in the death?

Pat Cummins might be turning into an incredible death overs hitter – we’ll get there later in the piece – but his death bowling has been far from inspiring. Since 2020, in the last four overs, Pat Cummins has conceded runs at an economy rate of 11.80, gifting a boundary every 3.5 balls.

Since 2020, among bowlers to bowl at least 50 balls in the death overs in the IPL, only three have conceded runs at a worse economy rate than Cummins. To compound woes for KKR, Andre Russell is next in this list. That takes away two excellent options for Kolkata in the death with their third pacer, Umesh Yadav, being a powerplay bowler.

With this in mind, KKR might have to revisit their strategy a bit and use Cummins more upfront while possibly leaving an extra over of Sunil Narine or Varun Chakravarthy for the end. This would mean Russell still bowling, but spin dominating the death overs, an unheard-of strategy, but it could work given these mystery spinners have economy rates of 8.42 and 9.36 in the death since 2020, among the top 10 best economy rates in the league in this phase.

Should KKR go back to opening with Narine?

It’s a tricky call for Kolkata Knight Riders, but with Ajinkya Rahane not quite clicking – his last three scores read 9 (10), 12 (11), and 7 (11) – and the other overseas options appearing indispensable, going back to Narine at the top to complement Venkatesh Iyer might not be the worst move, especially against opponents that do not really have high pace in their ranks in the powerplay.

No opener to face 100 balls in IPL history has a better strike-rate than Narine’s 173.9, which is nearly 30 points more than the next best powerplay hitter, but the issue of late has been that teams have used high pace and bounce against Narine, something the West Indian hasn’t quite managed to do well against.

In fact, this has hit Narine’s powerplay stocks very hard in recent times. Since 2020, Narine’s powerplay strike-rate is less than 80, one of the worst in the league in this time frame. But given KKR’s other options, using Narine at the top in a flexible way might not be the worst move. The other option, Aaron Finch, not only takes up an overseas slot but is also far from the ideal powerplay batter as reflected by his strike-rate of 119.26 in the powerplay in all T20s since 2020.

How has Pat Cummins conquered Mumbai Indians over the years?

It’s no secret now that Pat Cummins has found a way to torment Mumbai Indians time and again in the last three seasons. With impact either with bat or ball, Cummins has stood out for Kolkata and although none of the previous games were as wild as this one, it still showed how Cummins took down Mumbai, especially with the bat.

Pat Cummins against Mumbai Indians for Kolkata

2020: 3-0-49-0 & 33(12)

2020: 3-0-28-0 & 53* (36)

2021: 4-0-24-2 & 0(1)

2022: 4-0-49-2 & 56* (15)

Overall, Cummins has made 160 runs in just 86 balls against Mumbai in his IPL career and part of his success has been in handling Jasprit Bumrah.

Against Bumrah, Cummins has 46 runs in just 25 balls, smashing the Indian quick for five sixes and a four. By targetting Mumbai’s best bowler, Cummins has pushed Mumbai to use the next best options against him and it has often resulted in further damage like the Daniel Sams over on Wednesday.