Mumbai: On a day when nearly 1,000 runs were scored across two IPL games and in a team that has made 200-plus totals a routine, one bowler continued to fly under the radar.
Eshan Malinga may not elicit the kind of oohs and aahs that an on-song Jofra Archer did on Saturday, or attract the spotlight that an Abhishek Sharma or Ishan Kishan carry in his franchise. Yet in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) resurgence from the table’s bottom half early in the season to the top now, Malinga has been the silent architect.
The Sri Lankan shared the top spot for most wickets this season (14) after SRH’s five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur. Almost typically, the unassuming bowler’s outing did not glaringly stand out, but was no less significant as any of the night’s three fifties or the century on a flat deck.
The hosts, as their captain Riyan Parag and batting coach Vikram Rathour concurred, were 10-20 runs short at 228/6 from where they were at the start of the death overs.
One of those, the 19th, was a five-run, one-wicket over from Malinga. Five of the six balls were either a yorker or low full toss. Malinga, who had also dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal with the new ball and a hard length, got Donovan Ferreira holed out with the low full toss. Even though Ravindra Jadeja sent the last ball to the boundary, those brilliantly executed deliveries played a big role in keeping RR to a gettable total. “Malinga, I thought, bowled really well in the end,” Rathour said after the match.
Malinga has been doing so for a good part of this season, playing a specific and challenging role at the back end of the innings with a varied range of skills. Not as slingy as his namesake, Malinga gets tricky to face with those “old-school wrists”, as Faf du Plessis put it in ESPNcricinfo Timeout a few days ago, which makes the ball tail and go low under the bat. His diverse skill options and clarity in execution proved pivotal in SRH’s three-win home run on the batting-friendly Hyderabad pitches.
In the first meeting with RR (2/31) the damage was done at the top but it was against Chennai Super Kings (3/29) and Delhi Capitals (4/32) that Malinga really shone.
CSK were motoring along in pursuit of 195 when Malinga found some reverse swing and broke the back of CSK’s chase. After removing Ruturaj Gaikwad in the Powerplay, he dismissed the set Sarfaraz Khan (11th over) and Matthew Short (16th). Both were holed out on the on-side with deliveries that curved and gave little room to get under.
Against DC, who too had a fair shot at chasing 243 at the halfway mark, Malinga turned to change of pace. Three of his four wickets — Nitish Rana (11th over), Tristian Stubbs (16th) and Ashutosh Sharma (18th) — were off slower balls. “He’s found almost a niche role in that team, where he’s unbelievable from the 10th (over) to the 20th,” said du Plessis.
In three of their four straight victories, SRH have leaked runs in the Powerplay. In Malinga they have a crafty operator who can not only plug the hole but also pick up wickets. With reverse, slower balls or yorkers — like he did on Saturday in that five-run over. And on these IPL run-fests, even a set of six good balls can have a telling impact.
“One wicket, or one really good over, can actually be as important as a good spell would be in a low-scoring game,” said SRH captain Pat Cummins.
SRH have won five of eight games with Cummins, whose return further bolstered them, featuring in just one. Leading their inexperienced bowling pack this season is a Sri Lankan who has quietly become one of SRH’s most potent weapons.