Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakravarthy said the teams have understood the concept of Impact Player better in this iteration of IPL and now bowlers will have to find ways to counter the ultra-aggressive approach of batsmen to make an impact on the game.
Chakravarthy's spell of three for 16 played a vital role in KKR's thumping seven-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on Monday.
"The Impact Player rule was there last year also. The teams have now understood how to use the impact player rule better. So, they know that there is extra batting and they want to charge from the first ball. That's how it's going," Chakravarthy said in the post-match press meet.
"However much the bowlers cry, that's how it is. We've to accept that this IPL is different and mentally accept that challenge. You can't change the side of the ground or you can't change anything."
Chakravarthy also said the Eden Gardens pitch offered a good amount of help to the bowlers against Delhi.
"The last two matches before this, we didn't defend that well because the wickets have become very placid in the second innings. But this pitch was a little bit more turning.
"That was the difference. The length is basically the same for all the matches. It's just how the wicket behaves."
Chakravarthy said the KKR players and management went into a huddle to find solutions after Punjab Kings managed to chase a record 262 in their previous match.
"Definitely, the last match (vs PBKS) was a very hard pill to swallow. We had many conversations with the management, everyone chipped in. We spoke with the coaches
Carl Crowe, Bharat Arun sir, (Gautam) Gambhir, Chandrakant (Pandit) sir, Abhishek Nair."
The 32-year-old said even the KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan pepped them up with a quick motivational talk.
"Even Shah Rukh bhai, he came up to us yesterday and spoke to me a lot he said 'don't take it personally, whatever is happening this IPL is just going at a crazy rate, just don't self-doubt yourself'."
DC optimistic to make playoffs
After their defeat against KKR, Delhi have have slipped to sixth with three just matches left for them, and bowling coach James Hopes said they are optimistic of making the playoffs.
Delhi next face Rajasthan Royals at home on May 7, before travelling to Bengaluru (May 12). Their last fixture in the league is against Lucknow Super Giants at home on
May 14.
"We have a week off now. Our destiny is still in our own hands, you might say," Hopes said.
"If we can win three games and get to 16 points, that should be good enough. But we do have a week off now where we can readjust and see if we need to think a little different about anything.
"Yeah, tonight was a missed opportunity, and we won't hide behind any excuses there," he said.
Hopes said they could have recalibrated the target on a slow pitch.
"This has been a high-scoring venue, and even though we'd lost three wickets in the power play, we had no reason to really think it wasn't going to be anything other than that.
"We were still going 11 and half an over. So, we were still thinking 200-220. But I think once the spinners started to grip the ball, we saw it in Sunil (Narine) first over, it gripped a bit for him in the sixth over.
"So our mistake probably lay in that we didn't recalibrate our sights on something slightly lower. I think everyone assumed that it was going to be a 240 game.
"The trick is understanding that it's not that way sometimes, and you have to actually put a defendable score on the board and not go too hard."
Crediting the KKR bowling, Hopes said: "You saw a slight shift in (bowling) tactics today. Mitch (Starc) almost tried yorkers every ball. I think he (Jack Fraser-McGurk) only faced yorkers, bouncers and slower balls."
