“My thing with Kuldeep is that you can’t be hit for six over square leg off a short ball, and over long-off and long on [as well],” Dasgupta said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show. “So yes, you will get hit. This is that kind of a format. [But] I’d rather have him be hit over mid-off and mid-on – down the ground – rather than square of the wicket or extra cover. Anything off the front foot [is fine]. You get hit off the front foot fair enough, but not of the back foot.”

Which is what happened with Kuldeep on Friday since he couldn’t control his lengths, or his line for that matter. The first six, off a flighted delivery, went straight. The second was a short delivery, a googly, that went to midwicket. The third, to Green, was short, slow off the pitch, and went over midwicket as well. The fourth was a googly, flighted, but right in the hitting arc outside off stump. And the last one could have been dealt with similarly but Allen chose the slog sweep this time.

“I saw a lot of deliveries between fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth stump, just in that nice hand-freeing arc”

Mitchell McClenaghan

Perhaps because the target for KKR was well within sight, Kuldeep was given a slip for his second and third overs, and Dasgupta liked that.

“The moment you put a slip in place, from a bowler’s point of view, you’re thinking, ‘I need to pick a wicket’. You’re not picking a wicket off a short ball, right? You’re picking a wicket off a fuller delivery. So straightaway, mentally, you’re bowling fuller, So that is the kind of space that you’d rather have Kuldeep in. Even if he gets hit, it’s off the front foot down the ground rather than square of the wicket.”

That said, ESPNcricinfo’s data says that Kuldeep has bowled 70 full-length deliveries this season, and batters have scored 178 runs off them at a strike rate of 254.28, with nine fours and 18 sixes. That strike rate is up from 133.65 last season, and 168.88 in IPL 2024. And he has just two wickets from full deliveries this season. With all other lengths, he has conceded 171 runs in 128 balls, a strike rate of 133.59. And got five wickets. But he has not stuck to his lengths too many balls in a row, or found the right lines to go with it.

“I saw a lot of deliveries between fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth stump, just in that nice hand-freeing arc,” McClenaghan said. “Whether he was a little bit shorter or a little bit full, there were not a lot of balls that were hitting either the top of leg stump or three-quarters of the way up leg stump, or [he was] outside the wide line, when you know guys are trying to go after you. You have to play the corners of the base.”

Rao sounded despondent on Friday night. “We are facing it, and we are receiving it. Person like him, with Axar and all, if these two continues in good form [it helps]. [But] one is doing well, one is not, it hurts in a bowling group. So we are facing that failure. [But we] always want him to do well.”