GUWAHATI: With the current Indian Premier League (IPL) season witness to some high-scoring games in the opening week, Wednesday’s match at the ACA Stadium then looked like an aberration.
The Barsapara track offered help for the tweakers as Kolkata Knight Riders spinners, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali, ran through hosts Rajasthan Royals’ middle order to choke the flow of runs to restrict them to 151.
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On the wicket, Ali said, “It was good one, had a bit of everything — swing, bit of seam, spun nicely but not massively, just enough spin. I played here in the England warmup games (ahead of 2023 ODI World Cup); it’s a very nice ground.”
Ali added that it was good that the track offered something for the bowlers.
“Some of the wickets are amazing. India is a great place to bat actually, and when the wickets are like this, you’re not going to get 300, you probably won’t even get 200. So it’s great to have these games in between those big ones,” said Ali.
Ali combined well with Chakravarthy as the duo shared four wickets between them. The English allrounder had praise for his ‘mystery’ partner Chakravarthy.
“I came on before him (seventh over), so my job was to bowl tight. I’m used to bowling with somebody who’s better and has more mystery. So I bowl as tight as I can and hopefully, that builds pressure for them to get wickets,” Ali said.
“Varun’s a brilliant bowler who has improved so much over the last two-three years. It’s amazing to bowl with him.”
