IPL 2018: Buttler and Rahane’s dismissals were key, reckons Kuldeep

Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane are the two stalwarts in the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) setup. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that teams try to dismiss them early in order to get a stranglehold on the Royals. Buttler has been in the middle of a purple patch having equalled Virender Sehwag as the player with the most number of consecutive half-centuries (5) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In yesterday’s match at the Eden Gardens against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), he was poised to get his sixth fifty on the trot. However, his knock was cut short by Kuldeep Yadav’s guile and trajectory. The wicket-keeper batsman attempted to play the reverse-sweep and was pouched at short third-man by Javon Searles. Prior to that, he nipped out the prized scalp of Ajinkya Rahane with a wrong’un as well.

Kuldeep’s game-changing wickets

A couple of wickets turned the match on its head and RR could never recover from the jolts. KKR went on to emerge victorious by six wickets and quite deservingly, Kuldeep was crowned as the Player of the Match for his game-changing spell of 4-0-20-4. Post the emphatic victory, the Chinaman bowler spoke about the approach he employed in order to get under the skins of the batsmen.

“I hadn’t done much wrong in the last game too but the batsman (Kishan) had batted well. But when that happens, it tends to alter your mindset. I had become defensive; I was thinking ‘let me try and choke the run flow’. But then, I am not that kind of bowler. It is only when I attack that I get wickets most of the time. That is my strength,” Kuldeep was quoted as saying in Hindustan Times.

“His (Rahane) wicket was very important for me. It was my first over and they were some 70 plus for one in six overs and going well. So Ajju bhai’s wicket was very important and later on, that of Jos Buttler. When you are confident, the ball tends to turn as well,” the tweaker added while highlighting the significance of the scalps of Buttler and Rahane.

Here is KKR’s full squad

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