Dropping ‘sitters’ a malaise among most teams

It was a superb bowling display which set up the victory against Kings XI Punjab, but it still required two innings of contrasting styles to get Kolkata Knight Riders home once we had slipped into a hole at 60 for five. Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav are as good a new ball pair as there is in the entire tournament and their five wickets went a long way to keeping Punjab under pressure.

But yet again, we also found ourselves marvelling at the magic of Sunil Narine. Naturally there were concerns, even fears that he would not be the same bowler after remodelling his action but he is ‘all there’, every single bit of the mystery remains intact.

All the good work might have been undone had it not been for the depth of the batting and the brilliance of Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell - whose recent form has been amazing. Yusuf, of course, is capable of matching the highest strike rates ever seen but he didn’t need to while Andre was in full flight. He read the match situation superbly and played an innings of great maturity – and we still won with two overs to spare!

Sometimes, it’s harder to play within your limitations than it is to bat at full pace; it requires a calm head and physical restraint. He would have changed up a couple of gears if Andre had been dismissed but while they were both at the crease, it was Yusuf’s job to control the chase which he did brilliantly.

Delhi are next on the list and a meeting with some old friends from the Proteas change room. With Gary (Kirsten) and J.P. Duminy in charge on and off the field, there shouldn’t be too many tactical surprises – although this game changes so quickly it has become normal to expect the unexpected.

A disturbing trend I’ve noticed this season so far is the number of catches being dropped across all the teams, and in particular the number of ‘sitters’. It might be nothing more than coincidence, and there may be no particular reason. But it also might be the result of too much time being spent on innovations and tactical plans – at the expense of the basics. There’s no point coming up with an ingenious way to dismiss a batsman if you don’t catch the ball. No doubt, the spate of dropped catches has been noticed by everyone else and the extra work to cure the problem has started.

My partner, Charlene, has been in the country for just over 24 hours now and has enjoyed every minute and every experience she’s had so far. Another person destined to fall in love with India, I suspect.

-Gameplan