Best Bowling Performances of Keemo Paul in IPL
Over the years, Delhi Capitals have always managed to piece together a star-studded squad in the Indian Premier League. From IPL winning skippers Gautam Gambhir and David Warner to the international hotshots like AB de Villiers and Kevin Pietersen, they always had enough firepower in their ranks. However, for some reason, they have never managed to get their hands on the coveted crown.
This is perhaps a reason why their new management decided to shift the focus to utility instead of big names last year, and it has already paid its dividends. They tweaked their traditional strategies on the auction table and went for not-so-highly-recognised names like Sherfane Rutherford and Keemo Paul. The latter proved to be a very significant buy for just INR 50 lakhs.
Best Bowling Performances of Keemo Paul in IPL
The Guyanese all-rounder, who was adjudged West Indies’ T20 Player of the Year in 2019, played 8 matches for the Capitals. Though Keemo Paul did not get any real opportunity to show what he can do with the bat, he was instrumental with the ball in his hand.
Let us have a look at five Top Bowling Performance of Keemo Paul in IPL:
5. 0/15 vs Rajasthan Royals
We start off with a spell where Keemo Paul couldn’t add to his wickets tally, yet played a very crucial role in his team’s victory. At the business end of the season, Capitals met Rajasthan Royals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. It was important for Shreyas Iyer‘s men to restrict the Royals to a low total, and Paul helped in doing just that.
Though he did not pick any wicket, he conceded just 15 runs from 3.1 overs. His economy rate of fewer than 5 runs per over is a rare sight in the shortest format of the game, and it helped the Capitals to restrict Royals to only 115, which they chased down easily.
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4. 2/42 vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Top Bowling Performance of Keemo Paul in IPL: From a very economical spell, we shift our focus to a spell where Paul was expensive. But this time around, it was the wickets he took which helped Delhi Capitals register a victory against very strong opposition. At the Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders started the proceedings with fire, thanks to a blistering knock from Shubman Gill.
The youngster scored 65 from just 39 balls but eventually lost his wicket to the West Indian all-rounder. Andre Russell then took the baton from Gill, and with him was former Delhi player Carlos Brathwaite. Things could have gone haywire for Delhi if the two Caribbean all-rounders started firing, but Paul stopped any such occurrence by getting Brathwaite out.
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3. 1/21 vs Mumbai Indians
Indians had a very shaky start, but then Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard built a strong 50-run partnership. While Singh played the role of an anchor, Pollard’s job was just to dispatch the ball as far as he could into the stands. Mumbai was slowly getting into the drivers’ seat when Paul took the crucial wicket of Pollard. He also conceded just 21 runs from his 3 overs.
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2. 3/32 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
Best Bowling Performances of Keemo Paul in IPL: After a long wait of 7 years, Delhi finally managed to get into the playoffs in 2019. But in order to get to Qualifier 2, they would have to brush the threat of Sunrisers Hyderabad aside. Hyderabad’s start was not ideal, but Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson steadied their ship.
The partnership was looking good when Paul dismissed the former for 36. When Williamson and Pandey were both sent back to the dugout, a nascent partnership of Vijay Shankar and Mohammad Nabi was looking menacing. Once again it was Paul to break the partnership, as he dismissed the Afghan all-rounder. In the very same over, he got the better of another Afghan all-rounder in Rashid Khan to restrict Hyderabad to 162.
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1. 3/17 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
The eliminator match was not the only game where Keemo Paul got the better of the Hyderabad batting lineup. In fact, when he met the men from south earlier in the tournament, he pulled off a man of the match award-winning spell.
Delhi had scored only 155 and hence required Paul to step up to get the victory. Hyderabad’s innings started off in some fashion, but Paul gave Delhi their first breakthrough in the form of Jonny Bairstow. He then dismissed their skipper Kane Williamson and Ricky Bhui to damage the SRH batting lineup beyond repair.
