IPL 10, Match 26, GL vs KXIP: CT player of the match – KC Cariappa

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) came back to winning ways with a clinical performance against the Gujarat Lions as they brushed aside the home team by 26 runs to win their 3rd match of the tournament. It was a much-needed victory for the visitors especially after losing 3 on a bounce. Courtesy a brilliant half-century by Hashim Amla, Punjab posted a competitive 188 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. Andrew Tye was the pick of the GL bowlers finishing with figures of 2/35 in his 4 overs.

Despite the big score the onus was on the bowlers to deliver as Rajkot is traditionally a big scoring ground and 188 wasn’t going to be enough if their bowlers didn’t deliver. The Kings XI bowlers did what exactly the doctor ordered the visitors and managed to restrict them to 161 in their 20 overs. It was the mystery spinner KC Cariappa who bowled magnificently and finished with exceptional figures of 2/24 in his allotted 4 overs

A tight first 2 overs

The mystery spinner finally made a mark in the IPL as the man with an uncanny action bowled in the right areas and finished with 2 wickets in the important match for Punjab. He was bought by the KKR for a whopping 2.5 crores in 2014 but couldn’t perform for them which led to his ouster from the team. His performance for his new franchise will surely keep in good stead as the tournament progresses and it will also be good signs for Maxwell and Co.

He was introduced into the attack during the powerplay and Finch struck him for a boundary in the very first delivery. He followed it up with some good deliveries and conceded only 3 runs from rest of the 5 deliveries. He bowled without any success even in the next over and yet conceded a boundary which came from the blade of Dinesh Karthik. It was a good start for the offie conceding only 15 runs in the first 2 overs.

The Mystery spinner bags wickets on consecutive deliveries

Cariappa came back into the attack in the 12^th over and foxed hard-hitter Ravindra Jadeja with a carom ball. It stopped on the pitch and Jadeja wanted to work it on the leg-side. It took the outside edge of his bat and ballooned straight back to the bowler who completed a pretty straight forward catch.

The wicket came in the last delivery of the over and the spinner followed it up with another wicket in the first delivery of his final as Akshadeep Nath failed to read the ball which turned the other way. It zipped off the pitch and struck him plumb in front. The umpire had no hesitation in ruling it in favour of the visitors as the ball would have crashed onto the leg stumps.

Andrew Tye came out in the middle and failed to read any of his deliveries as the spinner conceded only 4 runs from his final 5 deliveries. It was a great piece of bowling by the youngster and he will look to take his confidence and perform to his potential through the rest of the tournament. Courtesy his impressive performance, Cariappa is Crictracker’s player of the match and he bags 3.5 stars out of 5.