IPL: Bartlett cracks open KKR but rain has final say

Kolkata: With a wide first slip and a fine gully in place, Xavier Bartlett barrelled in from the High Court End, releasing the ball with a high arm action after getting as close to the umpire as possible. The idea was to get the ball to shape away from just short of good length, hoping to lure the dangerous Finn Allen into a wild flash outside off-stump. Hope probably isn’t the right word considering the Aussie pacer was operating with a new ball on a fairly green Eden Gardens pitch with moisture laden clouds hovering over it.

Conviction probably. Nothing else justifies the lengths Bartlett hit to take Allen and Cameron Green by surprise. Test lengths more specifically, the kind rarely given a thought in the constantly evolving T20 landscape. But for all the talk of innovation, match-ups plotted by data analysts and batters who swing as if consequence was optional, Bartlett showed the game’s most decisive moments could still be shaped by something far older, almost unfashionable, basically repeating the boring stuff.

Not always in the obvious places, but sometimes also there to begin with. Only on Sunday did Mohammed Shami bowl 18 dots out of 24 deliveries after getting Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head to hang their bats out to his slow swingers. Bartlett was far quicker, but the common aspect was that unplayable length. And the nagging ability to peg away at the same spot.

A big downside of T20 is that batters can’t afford to see out a few deliveries even if they want to. Beaten once, Allen left his stumps next ball to try and scoop the ball by getting inside its line. He couldn’t. Third ball, a play and miss again that kept everyone interested. Not for long though. Fourth ball, Bartlett finally found the edge, partly because he wasn’t giving Allen any space to manoeuvre and largely because the Kiwi batter knows no other way of batting but to go after every ball.

Bartlett, the highest wicket-taker for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash, is known to be a big swinger of the ball. So, it wasn’t surprising to see him open Punjab Kings’ bowling along with Arshdeep Singh. Worthy of praise however is the brains that decided to exploit those Test lengths with Bartlett.

Coach Ricky Ponting definitely, but not without Shreyas Iyer who was back at the venue where he was the home captain not too long ago. Realising that these were conditions opposing teams rarely get at Eden Gardens, pitting Bartlett against Allen or Cameron Green felt like a no-brainer.

Bartlett bowling in that corridor made it a sharp tactic by PBKS. Green did get a four off the first ball he faced with a streaky thick edge, but the next ball was so on the money that he had no option but to edge to Prabhsimran Singh behind the stumps. Two overs gone with the score reading 16/2, KKR wouldn’t mind escaping this rain-soaked match with a point, that too after inexplicably choosing to bat despite predictions of heavy evening rains.

The point, however, was made. Test bowling lengths matter. And as long as it matters, T20 strategy will continue to find a place for bowlers who keep doing the boring stuff. Precisely why batters like Virat Kohli will continue to stay relevant. They understand tempo not as a constant high, but as a series of negotiated phases. And more importantly, how to get there.

Pant’s apparent recklessness is underpinned by an acute awareness of field placements and bowler psychology. It is improvisation, yes, but within a framework built over long hours in longer formats. Twenty overs may dictate the length of the contest, but not its depth.