Russell and Co outfox RCB with a dose of slower balls on fresh pitch

In a match where multiple bowlers clocked above 145kph, the slower balls had the biggest say as Kolkata Knight Riders became the first away team in IPL 2024 to register a win. They beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by seven wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Andre Russell, who had played an unbelievable knock here in 2019, once again had a key role, but not with the bat.

Playing the second of their three back-to-back home games, RCB laid out a fresh pitch for Friday's game. It had some loose cracks. When RCB's batting coach Neil McKenzie was asked about the wicket on the eve of the match, he had said, "It should be a good pitch with some pace in it, which should probably suit our team".

That did not turn out to be the case, though. After being sent in, RCB posted 182 for 6, which KKR chased down with more than three overs to spare. The hallmark of their victory was how quickly they read and adapted to the pitch, both while bowling and batting.

In the first innings, the ball was stopping quite a bit on the pitch, making it difficult for batters to play their shots. Russell was the first to realise it. In his opening over, the ninth of the innings, he bowled two slower balls into the wicket, one to Virat Kohli and the other to Cameron Green. Both batters went for the pull, only to under-edge it towards the wicketkeeper.

Russell doubled the dose in his next over and bowled four slower balls, off which he conceded only one bye. He duly passed on the information to the other seamers in the team. Mitchell Starc, who had bowled at full throttle in his first two overs, sent down plenty of slower deliveries in his last two. Harshit Rana, too, did the same, and with good success.

After 15 overs, RCB were 134 for 3. In the next three, they managed only 19 and lost two wickets. Even a set Kohli struggled with timing.

As per ESPNcricinfo's logs, the KKR seamers bowled 22 slower balls, conceding only 20 runs off them and picking up three wickets. "We knew if you try to bowl fast on this track, it becomes easy for the batters," KKR bowling coach Bharat Arun told the host broadcaster during an in-game interview.

It was only because of Dinesh Karthik's late hitting that RCB crossed 180. Given the conditions, both teams felt it was a par total. After all, in the previous game here, albeit on a different pitch, Punjab Kings had almost defended 176.

For the second innings, RCB had planned to bring in legspinner Karn Sharma as their Impact Player. But after seeing how the pitch had behaved, they changed their mind.

"It felt like someone who could bowl a really good slower ball was probably the most difficult bowler to face on this pitch," Faf du Plessis, the RCB captain, said after the match. "When KKR bowled, they did it really well. Dre Russ probably bowled 80% of his balls as cutters."

So RCB went with Vijaykumar Vyshak, who has a good knuckle ball. However, their seamers did not find success despite following the same tactics. The 21 slower balls they bowled went for 47 runs and fetched one wicket.

The reason for that was as the match progressed, dew started setting in. While it was not so heavy to transform the ball into a bar of soap, it did quicken up the pitch. As a result, the batting became easier.

Sunil Narine and Phil Salt gave KKR a start of 86 in just 6.3 overs, after which Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer took over and shut the door on the opposition.

Among the RCB seamers, only Vyshak was effective, and finished with figures of 1 for 23 from his four overs. The others - Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, Alzarri Joseph and Green - went for 133 from their combined ten, and picked up just one wicket.

"There was one end, the far end, that was still tricky," Venkatesh, who scored 50 off 30 balls, said. "From there, the ball was stopping. It was slightly two-paced, and there was double bounce."

That was the end from where Vyshak bowled all his overs.

"But the other end certainly got better," Venkatesh continued, "and the communication was to target the bowlers from that end."

This was the first loss for a home team this season after nine straight wins. Given RCB's record at the Chinnaswamy, it was no surprise they were on the receiving end.