"The reason," Kolkata captain Shreyas Iyer said after winning the toss and inviting Punjab to bat, "is the swimming pool we've seen in the evening."
Iyer was talking about the dew factor which has been so heavily influential in the outcomes of matches in the ongoing Indian T20 Cricket League 2022. With the city of Mumbai hosting the majority of matches across three venues, the dew factor has been dominating the outcomes with teams successfully chasing down targets above 200-run mark twice in three matches so far.
Punjab were the first team to chase more than 200 against Bangalore a few nights ago at the DY Patil Stadium and on Friday evening, Kolkata captain Iyer really wanted to make use of the batting-friendly conditions that would be on offer in the second innings of the game, with the bowlers struggling to bowl with an extremely wet ball owing to the dew settling in on the field.
But thanks to Umesh Yadav and Andre Russell, Iyer did not have to wait for long and even put in a great deal of effort with the bat as Kolkata finished the Match No 8 of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 14.3 overs into the second innings, scoring 141/4 in reply to Punjab’s total of 137 from 18.2 overs.
The momentum for a huge victory was provided early on by the right-arm Indian pacer Umesh Yadav, who has been absolutely brilliant on green-top wicket across venues in this Indian T20 Cricket League 2022. In three matches so far, Umesh has a total of 8 wickets, 4 of which came on Friday night against Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Umesh Yadav returned with figures of 4-0-23-4, accounting for Punjab captain Mayank Agarwal in the first over to send him back into the hut for a 5-ball 1 and later on returned to dismiss Liam Livingstone (19), Harpreet Brar (14) and Rahul Chahar (0).
Kolkata were cautious of the fire power in the Punjab ranks who had put up a collective effort with the bat against Bangalore to chase more than 205 in their first match of the tournament.
Yet Iyer had no qualms in inviting Punjab to bat first, knowing that conditions will be far more friendlier when it will be 15 stunned to bat.
Punjab batsmen went hard against Kolkata bowlers but an aggressive approach also meant that they lost wickets in a heap.
Shikhar Dhawan perished for 16, dismissed by Tim Southee, Sri Lanka's Bhanuka Rajapaksa once again provided a fine example of himself, clobbering 3 sixes and as many boundaries to reach a 9-ball 31 before his innings was ended by the young Indian fast bowler Shivam Mavi.
For the second match on the trot, Liam Livingston could not contribute much as he was accounted for by Umesh Yadav whereas India Under-19 World Cup 2022 star Raj Bawa fell to the veteran Kolkata spinner Sunil Narine having scored a 13-ball 11.
None among the lower-order Punjab batsmen barring Kagiso Rabada could provide any resistance. The South African cricketer displayed rich hitting capability to score 25 from the 16 balls with 4 boundaries and a six to push his team’s total to 137 in 18.2 overs.
Apart from Umesh Yadav, the veteran Kiwi fast bowler Tim Southee returned with 2/36 while the likes of Shivam Mavi, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell claimed one wicket apiece.
Kolkata made a shaky start to the chase of 138 as they lost Ajinkya Rahane for an 11-ball 12 in the second over with Rabada getting the Indian batsman caught at short third man, by Odean Smith.
Shreyas Iyer displayed aggressive intent to make 26 from 15 balls with the help of 5 boundaries, but Rahul Chahar, who was easily the standout bowler for Punjab with figures of 4-1-13-2, removed the Kolkata captain with his side far from the finish line.
English cricketer Sam Billings and Andre Russell got together in the 7th over of the innings when Kolkata lost both Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana in a space of three deliveries to be left reeling at 51/4. Rana burned a DRS review challenging a leg-before appeal which went against him.
Russell revealed later on that he wanted to have a go at the Punjab bowlers rather than waiting and watching for the perfect opportunity to launch an onslaught — one that broke Punjab’s push for a win.
The burly West Indian took the matter in his own hands to finish the game, taking the game to the opposition and challenging them with his brutal stroke play.
Russell finished with a grand total of 8 sixes and 2 boundaries which powered him to 70 not out from only 31 balls.
Billings, who had the best seat in the house, happily played the second fiddle as the two Kolkata batsmen put on an unbeaten 90-run stand from only 41 balls as Kolkata finished the game with 6 wickets intact and 5.3 overs to be bowled.
The huge victory by 6 wickets powered Kolkata to the top of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 points table, as the two-time title winners now have four points from three matches and a positive net run rate of 0.823.
Kolkata will be next seen in action against Mumbai on April 6 whereas Punjab will be facing a struggling Chennai side in the only match to be played this Sunday.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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