Kumars provide perfect finish

Praveen Kumar is posted at third man. Dale Steyn wants him fine, really fine. He gestures him to keep moving leftwards until he is almost directly behind first slip, almost a deep first slip. There is clearly a plan here for Gautam Gambhir. Steyn has a string of fielders close on the off side, and doesn't have anyone manning the boundaries square. He wants Gambhir to attempt the slog over covers, and get a thickish edge.

Gambhir plays ball and offers a brutish slash. The edge is flying towards Praveen. Full points for planning. Only that Praveen advances diffidently and makes a mess of it. Negative marks for execution. Next ball, Robin Uthappa clips one over square leg for six. Steyn shakes his arms vigorously in frustration. And for good reason. In his previous over, Steyn had forced Uthappa to edge only for KL Rahul, at second slip, to fluff it.

Praveen has little time to wallow - he doesn't look that type anyway - as he is handed the ball the very next over. Uthappa pulls out another non-violent flick to send the ball soaring over midwicket. Praveen follows it up with one that slants belatedly. Uthappa merely has to re-direct it behind square.

First a dropped catch and then 10 runs off the first two balls. The next one is a full toss and a crunching straight drive is screaming towards the fence only for it to be halted by the stumps at the non-strikers' end. Jersey untucked, hand on the hip, Praveen's familiar quirks are in place. It's hard to see this over changing for the better for Praveen.

Another full-toss follows. But Gambhir is looking mid-wicket and his wild swing catches the inside edge, then the stumps. 1-0-11-1. Praveen half-jogs to short fine, perhaps wondering how the rest of the night would play out. But then again, he doesn't look that type.

*****

Bhuvneshwar Kumar is one of the most un-IPL cricketers. It's quite an ask to trace him on the field for hardly does he draw any attention to himself. Almost unnoticed, he walks to the top of his mark to share the new ball with Steyn, who has just completed a searing first over.

Each of his deliveries is full and swerving in. Bhuvneshwar goes for 11 runs as well. He collects his cap and calmly goes back to his fielding position. His life bears little likeness to Praveen's. No drama. On and off the field.

*****

Praveen, meanwhile, is finding that his luck is getting better. Uthappa flits across, and uncorks the wrists to flick it straight to Praveen at short fine leg. More importantly, he has held on to it.

He and Bhuvneshwar have a shared past. Hailing from Meerut, the pair honed its skills on the lush pitches of Victoria Park. Bhuvneshwar, three years Praveen's junior, has often spoken about being fascinated by the latter's coaxing, late swing.

But admiration can wait. They haven't done a great deal in the tournament thus far. They haven't done too badly either. With all the talk surrounding Trent Boult and Steyn, there hasn't been much focus on them.

Kolkata Knight Riders require 37 off 18 balls, and two strong, if mercurial, strikers - Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan - are out in the middle. This is the time to bring out their collective bowling smarts. Bhuvneshwar has the ball. Praveen is at short fine, but his eyes are constantly on the positioning of deep square leg, long-on and deep midwicket. Every other delivery, he makes a subtle adjustment, asking a fielder to move slightly to the right or another to fall back a little.

Bhuvneshwar, meanwhile, is absolutely stoic, bowling a complement of full tosses and low full-tosses. Pandey can't time it well, Pathan can't even put bat to it. Bhuvneshwar finishes with an inch-perfect yorker. Five runs conceded.

Praveen comes on at the other end. He is suitably animated, asking Shikhar Dhawan to move in front of square. His assessment is bang on as the ball is headed exactly in that direction. There is a similar medley of yorkers and low full-tosses, one of them tails Pandey, who has to get his right leg out of harm's way at the last moment. Seven runs conceded.

Bhuvneshwar bowls the last over, with an insurance of 25 runs. Pathan goes back after hitting the second ball straight to extra cover. Captain David Warner leads the loud celebration. Bhuvneshwar gives the obligatory high-five and walks back to the top of his mark. Three more low full-tosses and Knight Riders don't have an answer. Bhuvneshwar, as if to rub it in, puts his last ball on a length, by which time Gambhir's men are in need of 18 runs.

The win is secured and Praveen is the first to rush to the striker's end to grab a stump. You think he is going to keep the souvenir, but he drops it in the middle of the pitch, and runs over to put his arm around Pandey and share a laugh. Bhuvneshwar, job done, quietly heads towards the change room. No fuss.