IPL 2021: Are KKR playing Pat Cummins ahead of Lockie Ferguson because of his batting?

A fantastic knock of 66* from 34 deliveries that threatened to pull off the strenuous chase for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) last Wednesday (April 21) only reflected Pat Cummins’ progression into one of the world’s better lower-order batsmen.

Cummins has always been a tough tailender to dislodge in Test cricket due to his decently built defensive technique. But in recent years, Pat Cummins has only expanded his range in white-ball cricket, improving his strike-rate to a degree by adding more strokes to his kitty against pacers and spinners both. The performance against CSK was a fine example of that.

Also Read: IPL 2021| Shubman Gill doesn’t take cricket or life too seriously: KKR’s Pat Cummins

But, while Pat Cummins’ individual batting brilliance would’ve earned him a pat on the back from the KKR think-tank and fans alike, one couldn’t help but feel, whether it was a clear case of performance in one department hiding a player’s flaws in the other. The same Cummins, who took the game back to CSK with the bat, was one of KKR’s big letdowns with the ball in the first half, where he conceded 58 runs off his 4 overs.

If Pat Cummins had performed better in his primary skill – bowling – he and the overall KKR batting unit wouldn’t have had to break as much sweat while chasing in the second half. And though it may seem unfair to go after one man when KKR’s collective bowling attack has been their problem area for a while, it’s unavoidable that Cummins isn’t doing enough to eradicate the issue at his end and is, in fact, accentuating his team’s troubles.

Pat Cummins now has a career IPL economy rate of 8.25 after 35 matches. In the ongoing season, he has gone for 9.17 runs per over while picking just four wickets. Cummins has never really been the best of T20 bowlers, someone capable of nailing the hard lines and lengths across different stages of an innings. His rise as an incredible Test match bowler has meant that Cummins is more verse with the attacking ploy and aggressive lines and lengths.

So unique are Test match skills to that of T20 skills – both in batting and bowling departments – that one can’t succeed in a particular format without mending his ways for the other. Flexibility. Robustness. This shift from one kind of cricket to the other tests you on these fronts.

The Pat Cummins, who bowls ‘kiss-the-surface’ balls in order to generate seam movement out of Test match tracks, could ill-afford to float the ball near the batter’s arc on flat pitches in T20s.

The only part of a T20 match similar to the Test match game slightly is the powerplay field restriction overs when a semblance of movement – swing or seam – forces teams to drop their guard just a touch to try and maximise their 20-over quota with wickets in hand.

Also Read: Shubman Gill: A Misfit, Who Needs To Refine His Range And Approach

Are KKR playing Pat Cummins ahead of Lockie Ferguson because of his batting?

In the last year’s edition of the IPL in UAE, where KKR used Cummins mostly at the beginning of an innings, he had one of his better seasons in the league’s history: 12 wickets and an economy rate of 7.86. But such seasons only improve Pat Cummins’ own T20 record, they don’t help KKR become the best possible team that they can be.

Breakdown of Pat Cummins’ IPL record in different stages of an innings (Source: Cricmetric)

Numbers vindicate how Pat Cummins’ performance regresses as he operates in the latter – and tougher – stages of a T20 innings, which poses the ultimate question: is Cummins worth the kind of investment KKR made in him last year when they got him back for a whopping sum of INR 15.50 crores.

While the dynamics of an auction can often be beyond a team’s control, one can’t help but think if KKR made an error in shelling out that much money on Pat Cummins, the money they could’ve spent on more robust resources.

Also Read: IPL 2021: RR vs KKR- Chris Morris takes four wickets as RR cruise to a six-wicket victory

They have one such resource available within their squad in New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson who, however, remains below Cummins in the pecking order and hasn’t been considered for selection in the ongoing IPL so far. When he did come into the playing XI last year, Ferguson took 6 wickets from 5 outings and more importantly, went at a respectable economy rate of 7.46 despite being used to plug the death-overs hole in the KKR attack.

Ferguson is an express fast-bowler, who can nail the yorker when required and also vary his pace to keep the batsmen in check. He would be an ideal fit in an otherwise struggling KKR bowling unit. But the 29-year-old is currently losing out to other options, especially Cummins, among the team’s overseas personnel.

Perhaps that is down to the fact that KKR have always looked to cover up their bowling flaws through batting depth, and Pat Cummins offers more with the bat. But that isn’t clearly the right way to go about things because, as it stands, KKR’s six-year-long trophy drought continues and they don’t seem nearer to ending it this season.