Andre Russell had struck a whirlwind knock of 62 earlier in the night, and in the Super Over, a couple of his clean hits down the ground could have sealed the contest for Kolkata Knight Riders. However, eventually, Kagiso Rabada emerged the hero for Delhi Capitals; his yorkers disallowing Russell to explode and having him clean bowled.
Knight Riders managed to score seven runs, to fall three short of its opponent's score in the Super Over.
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After gifting Capitals the win, Rabada revealed he backed himself to bowl yorkers in that over, against the ominous Russell.
“[Russell] was on fire tonight and I thought my yorker was coming out decently in this game so that’s what got me to back it even more and I think it’s important to really be clear and sure about what you’re doing, whatever ball you bowl. And that was my plan and that’s all I tried to do.
"On a different day, it could be something totally else. On a different day, you could have two things you could try and do. On this day, there was only one. I’m really glad that it came off,” he said.
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He further revealed he was in two minds as he ran up to deliver, as he was wary of bowling length-balls that could be dispatched to the boundary in a flash by Russell.
He said: “I was thinking [about the strength of the batsman] at the start of my run-up. Do I go length? Because Andre Russell will hit anything that’s full. So I still second-guessed myself which is not a very good thing. You don’t want to run in having two things on your mind. But today I backed the yorker.”
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Commenting on the paucity of these yorkers in Capitals’ bowling innings, he said, “I think they were trying but sometimes you’d miss your yorker and you say you’re going to bowl a yorker and then it comes out as a length ball. It’s amazing how many times that has happened. That’s just going to show you – you’re not always going to be a 100 percent. I think the guys tried. [Chris] Morris tried and the ball just went between short-fine-leg and the keeper, went for a boundary. Tried a wide yorker, Andre Russell sliced it. I was going to bowl yorkers. That was my Plan B in the innings. And then, in the Super Over it was my Plan A.”
Rather, it was a beamer that unsettled Knight Riders and Russell; he was floored by one from Harshal Patel. Weighing in on the incident, Rabada said, “I don’t know what he was trying to bowl; he made a mistake. That happens. Thankfully, Russell’s okay. He’s a big West Indian; I don’t know why he was on the floor for so long. I’ll give him grief about that.”
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