Vinay Kumar was on the receiving end of bashing from trolls when he could not defend 17 runs off the last over in the 6th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Vinay was brought back into the attack to bowl the final over instead of chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav. Vinay had leaked 16 runs in his first over in the powerplay overs and was taken off the attack.
Vinay was under immense pressure as he had to bowl to an in-form Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja. The over got off to a terrible start as he came round the wicket and bowled a full toss in an attempt to bowl a yorker. Bravo hit it for a six and to add to his misery, it was called a no-ball. Though fans are divided over whether it was a no-ball or not as Bravo was crouching a bit and struck the ball when it was still away from him.
The equation got simplified as CSK were awarded a free hit and they needed just 10 runs to win the match. On the fifth ball of the over, CSK needed 4 runs to win from two balls and Jadeja was on strike. The southpaw ended the match with a six and Vinay became the villain of the match for leaking the runs all along.
He was trolled and lashed out at by Twitterati for bowling an ordinary over which cost KKR the match despite them posting a total of 202 in the first innings, thanks to Andre Russell’s brilliance. Here’s Vinay’s answer to people questioning his talent —
Hey guys take it easy, it’s just a game. Where were you all when I defended 9 runs against RCB and 10 runs against Mumbai Indians!! Sometimes things do go wrong so CHILL….
— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) April 11, 2018
Vinay is a seasoned cricketer in this format of the game. The 34-year-old is the eight-highest wicket-taker in IPL history with 105 wickets so far. He has been a part of the Indian team in 9 T20Is and has bowled with a strike rate of 7.84.
The Karnataka bowler even took a hat-trick in Ranji Trophy 2017-18 final and entered the elite list. KKR might give him a few chances before benching him for the rest of the league as it was a pitch where even a death-overs specialist bowler like Bravo went for 50 runs in just three overs.
