It's too early to judge KKR mystery spinner K.C. Cariappa

Kolkata Knight Riders’ KC Cariappa

The decision by the Kolkata Knight Riders think tank to include KC Cariappa in the playing XI for the IPL match against star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens was something that came as a surprise to almost all the spectators around the world.

The unknown spinner had already generated much hype following his inclusion in the KKR squad during the IPL auction for a surprisingly high bid of Rs. 2.4 crore, and the fans finally got a chance to see the latest ‘mystery’ spinner for the first time.

An uneventful debut

This was the first IPL outing for the 20-year-old, whose association with the tournament had been limited to the KKR management team till then, and he was going up against arguably the best batting line-up in the IPL featuring stalwarts like Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

It was an extremely bold decision by the KKR management to play the youngster as a third spinner instead of Umesh Yadav at Eden Gardens, where they were unbeaten in the last five matches.

Speculation had been swirling around the papers comparing Cariappa to spinners like Ajantha Mendis and KKR teammate Sunil Narine, and the young player was one of the most talked about players before the start of the tournament.

12 deliveries later, he still remains a mystery.

The two overs bowled by Cariappa in the match against RCB went like this: 0-6-0-4-1-1-4-1-1-4-6-wicket. This included six balls to Gayle (12 runs), five to De Villiers (15 runs) and one to Dinesh Karthik (one run).

Unravelling the ‘mystery’

It is true that two overs in an IPL match are not nearly enough to judge any bowler, and hopefully the youngster will get more opportunities to prove himself. Cariappa came to bowl at a time when both Gayle and De Villiers were looking to accelerate the run rate and though he showed some promise, they were able to connect their shots quite well.

The positive part of Cariappa’s bowling is his variety which includes leg-breaks, a googly and off spinners, but his major problem in his debut match was his length. The youngster ended up bowling too short or too full to the two veteran batsmen who took full advantage to score some quick runs.

The biggest moment of Cariappa’s spell was when a faster arm ball from the Bangalore boy beat the charging De Villiers, who was successfully stumped by Robin Uthappa. It was an important wicket for the Knight Riders at that point of the match as De Villiers was scoring at a strike rate of around 200, but more significantly, it was the first IPL wicket for Cariappa who was visibly ecstatic.

Gambhir could have brought him back for an extended spell, but decided that he had had enough for the night.

Each ball that Cariappa delivered was dissected by social media, with people cheering or criticizing his every move, but it is too early to pass any judgement on the young spinner. He may not have started in the most exciting way, but it is too soon to write him off as a young talent who is not worth the hype.