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Monday, May 02, 2011

IPL4 Week 3 - comeback of the bowlers

The highlight of Week 3 of IPL was Ishant Sharma's spell against Kochi Tuskers. The pitch was helping the bowlers but from an Indian perspective, it was good to see Ishant land the ball at the right places. His scalps included Brad Hodge, Mahela Jayawardene - meaning that he must have been doing all the right things. The pitch will be similar to what India will face on their tours this year and this showing must have gladdened MSD a lot. His week did not end in the same way however - against Dhoni's CSK, he was clobbered for 3 of the largest sixes seen in IPL this year of the last 3 balls of his spell by Albie Morkel. What a return to ground zero!

Rahul Sharma proved that he is another spin bowler who has the makings to become a consistent performer on the IPL arena. His victims included Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha - surely a sign of larger things to come.

Sreesanth also bowled one of his best spells in IPL so far, against Sehwag's Daredevils, on a pitch that offered good support for bowlers. His ball to dismiss Sangakkara (in the same match that Ishant made his mark) was a perfect one except the fact that he overstepped. The ball was an example of what Sree can do on the cricket pitch, if he can keep his head together.

Iqbal Abdulla has been continuing the good work he has put in for KKR - another example of an youngster who is enjoying the greater platform that IPL has provided to such players. Will he make the next level in international cricket? Not too soon though.

With pitches getting slower, the bowlers have made a comeback in the tournament. Bowlers are able to defend scores of 120-140 with the help of slow, low pitches. This is where the batsman's technique comes to play.

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