Veteran India spinner turned commentator Piyush Chawla has explained the reasons how Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Moeen Ali has taken the limelight in IPL 2022.
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Veteran India spinner turned commentator Piyush Chawla has explained the reasons how Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Moeen Ali has taken the limelight in IPL 2022. The England player played five games at the start of the tournament but didn’t succeed. Moreover, he didn’t get to finish his quota of four overs in any match and also went wicketless. He was also dropped for more than two weeks and brought back only after MS Dhoni became the captain again. However, in his return match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), he not only smashed 34 (27) but also removed Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli as well.
Moreover, in the last match against the Delhi Capitals (DC), he picked three wickets for 13 runs too. And, Chawla said that Moeen’s success is related to the pitches. He claimed that the fresh wickets at the start of the tournament didn’t help him much but now, due to time and heat, he is getting help from the pitches. Piyush Chawla also opined on the other two overseas players of CSK – all-rounder DJ Bravo and spinner Maheesh Theekshana – who have taken 16 and 12 wickets so far, respectively. He called them wicket-takers whose ability to bowl at any stage of the match has helped the side as well.
Chawla told ESPNcricinfo: “Yes, he’s coming good on expectations. He didn’t get too many wickets at the start because pitches were different then and the matches were 180-190-run high-scoring ones. But as the tournament has progressed, so much cricket has been played and the temperature has gone up, the pitches have become slow. The kind of bowler he is, the ball comes out of his hand really well and he gets a lot of rotations which gives him dip and spin which has been very helpful for him.”
He continued: “A bowler’s value comes from his wicket-taking ability and not the economy rate. Both these bowlers get wickets for their team. Everybody gets hit for runs in the IPL but by taking wickets you get the upper hand for the team. Since Theekshana has arrived, he bowls in the powerplay, the middle-overs and when pitches are slow Mahi bhai uses him even during the difficult slog overs. And Bravo is an ever-green bowler who bowls in every situation and especially the slog overs where it’s very difficult to bowl. He gets hit for runs but also take wickets so when the new batter comes out to bat, no matter his reputation, it is very difficult to go hell for leather from the first ball.”
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However, the defending champions, CSK are on the verge of getting out of the playoffs race. With four wins from 11 matches, they need to win all the rest of the games and hope for some other results to go their way as well. They will take on Mumbai Indians (MI) in their next game at the Wankhade Stadium on Thursday, 12 May. While talking about their middle order that will trouble Mumbai, Chawla has said that they do but also said that the match’s direction will be decided by Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. He again stated that if they fail to give the team a flying start, Mumbai will dominate in the game as well.
“Yes, it certainly has the capability to trouble MI but a lot will depend on the opening partnership. If your opening partnership does well then life gets easier for the middle and lower-order batters. But if you don’t get a good start then the form of the oppositon’s bowlers – Bumrah, the form he showed in the last match, he was literally throwing missiles out of his hands and shaking the foundations of every batter,” Piyush Chawla concluded.
