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Needed a finger spinner who could hit hard lengths: KL Rahul
A night like this was a long time coming for Harpreet Brar. The 25-year-old left-arm spinner has been with the Punjab Kings since 2019, but most of that time, leading up to a magical Friday outing, was spent working tirelessly in the nets and then on the sidelines on match days.
Having ended a long wait, the young spinner decided to go out with a devil-may-care attitude. The spontaneity though was accompanied by a lot of patience. He came on to bowl right after RCB limped to 36 for 1 in the PowerPlay, with Virat Kohli having to work hard to get his timing right. The RCB captain saw the rookie spinner as a launchpad and gave him the charge first ball to peel off a straight six.
“I thought It is okay even if I get hit for a big shot. The thing was if the batsman was stepping out early. So I had to bowl shorter,” Brar said, explaining how he foxed Kohli in just his next over. RCB had to show urgency as the asking rate escalated. Kohli saw Brar as an outlet and gave him the charge again, only for a short delivery to sneak in below his bat and hit the stumps. Glenn Maxwell got a ball that was slightly up the pitch but did him in any way as it turned just that little bit to hit the top of off stump while he was caught on the back foot trying to push at it awkwardly. After three outings (across two previous seasons) and no wickets, Brar suddenly had two in two balls
