Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali claimed that the Indian openers used the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) approach and implemented it perfectly in the first T20I against Sri Lanka at Pallekele.
After hosts Sri Lanka put them in to bat, Indian openers Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a blistering start. Both batsmen crushed the Sri Lankan bowlers and used the powerplay restrictions to score 74 in the first 6 overs.
However, Gill was dismissed on the last ball of the powerplay for 34 off 16 balls, which included 6 fours and 1 six. Soon after, in the next ball, Yashasvi Jaiswal was also dismissed for a quickfire 40 off 21 balls. The left-hander hit 5 fours and 2 sixes during his delivery.
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“KKR’s approach has been implemented here,” Basit Ali said of India’s openers
While speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit Ali felt that the Indian openers used the aggressive method of batting like Sunil Narine and Phil Salt did for KKR in IPL 2024. He was also pleased that India used a left-right combination to not let the bowlers settle.
“From the very beginning of the partnership with India, it was clear that KKR’s approach was implemented here. The Indian batsmen implemented the approach used by Sunil Narine and Philip Salt,” Basit Ali said.
“The openers set the tone with their 74-run partnership. Sri Lanka found it very difficult to recover after that. India hit seven sixes and 27 fours. It felt like we were playing an IPL match. I was very happy to see India using a left-right combination,” he added.
Gautam Gambhir was the mentor of KKR when Sunil Narine and Phil Salt formed spirited opening partnerships in IPL 2024. It is also believed that Gambhir was the one who gave the idea of promoting Sunil Narine to open the innings.
Gambhir is currently the head coach of India. During his press conference, he spoke about giving freedom to the players to play their natural game and supporting them. This is the first time that Gambhir is serving as the head coach of India.
“Riyan Parag was bowled his first over at a very dangerous time” – Basit Ali
Basit Ali also spoke about Riyan Parag’s bowling. He believes that Parag came in to bowl at a dangerous time and that would have damaged his confidence if the SL batsmen had attacked him.
“Riyan Parag was given his first over at a very dangerous time because the overrate was slow. If the Sri Lankan batsmen had attacked him at that time, it would have undermined his confidence. Like me, Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir also like Riyan Parag a lot,” the former Pakistan player said.
Riyan Parag could not make much of an impact with the bat but took three wickets with the ball to deal a death blow to Sri Lanka’s hopes. With 56 required in the last 4 overs, Parag came in to bowl. He took the big wicket of Kamindu Mendis in his first over.
He then came in to bowl the final over of the match and bowled Sri Lanka two wickets in the first two balls of the over. Parag finished with 3/5 in 1.2 overs.
