With pace, bouncers and slower yorkers, Ferguson unlocks his full range
In a Gujarat Titans attack that includes Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami, the Kiwi pacer is fast becoming skipper Hardik Pandya’s go-to bowler.
Never mind the evolution of the T20 format and the tactical layers that it has unfurled, the battle between a searing quick bowler and a top batter provides an adrenaline rush like no other. Even if it lasts all of two balls, as the contest between Lockie Ferguson and Jos Buttler did on Thursday, encapsulating the wild fluctuations that can take place in the shortest version.
Buttler seemed keen on making a mockery of the 193-run target that Gujarat Titans had set for Rajasthan Royals, racing along to 48 off 22 balls by the time Ferguson was brought into the attack in the sixth over. The Kiwi pacer’s introduction immediately brought the wicket of Ravichandran Ashwin – sent in at No 3 – but Buttler was unfazed. None of that conventional thinking about getting a good look at a bowler before looking to attack him. Off his very first ball against Ferguson, Buttler moved across his stumps and scooped a back of a length delivery that was bowled at 146kmph over fine leg for six. It took Buttler to 54 off just 23 balls.
A spontaneous response from Ferguson might have been to bowl that next delivery even faster and shorter. That is perhaps what Buttler was anticipating too. Instead, Ferguson, who possesses a mean bouncer, came up with a riposte that illustrated his cricketing smarts – he bowled a slower yorker that managed to flummox the opener and clatter his stumps. The delivery was bowled at 126kmph, a good 20-25kmph slower than the speeds he generally operates at. It was a pertinent manifestation of why a slower ball is more effective when it comes from a bowler capable of breaching the 150kmph mark routinely.
Ferguson went on to finish with figures of 4-0-23-3, showing his readiness to take up the mantle of being Gujarat Titans’ strike bowler. In an attack that includes Rashid Khan and Mohammed Shami, you can’t ask for more from the New Zealander. No overseas pacer has taken more than Ferguson’s eight wickets this season.
It is exactly what Gujarat Titans must have been hoping for when they shelled out ₹10 crore for the 30-year-old from Auckland. The hefty price tag was a little bit of a gamble considering Ferguson hadn’t really played a leading role in any of his previous Indian Premier League (IPL) stints. Having first represented Rising Pune Supergiant in the 2017 season, he was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of the 2019 season. He played just five games each in 2019 and 2020, taking two and six wickets respectively.
In KKR’s march to the final of the 2021 season, he got to play a more prominent role with 13 wickets in eight matches, but the extra game time was largely owing to the unavailability of Pat Cummins for the second half of the season.
There’s no need for Ferguson to look over his shoulder anymore. He has played in all of Gujarat Titans’ matches this season and has often been the man Hardik Pandya has looked towards in search of a breakthrough. The role of an enforcer sits comfortably with Ferguson. For New Zealand too, he doesn’t get to bowl with the new ball given that they have Trent Boult and Tim Southee in their ranks. But in the 2019 World Cup in England for instance, he seldom disappointed when his side needed to make inroads into the opposition’s batting line-up. He finished second in the list of highest wicket-takers with 21 scalps, ensuring that a tinge of hostility was added to the New Zealand bowling unit.
Extreme pace can be a double-edged sword in white-ball cricket of course. As we have seen in this IPL, the likes of Pat Cummins, Kagiso Rabada and Umran Malik have travelled the distance despite effortlessly ramping up the speedometer. Cummins’s economy rate is 12.5 after two games while Malik and Rabada have conceded runs at 10.42 and 8.21 per over respectively. In comparison, Ferguson’s economy rate is 7.7. He is aware, though, that he can occasionally get the rough end of the stick. In the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad a few days ago, his four overs went for 46 runs without a single wicket.
“In the last two IPLs, the quicks have been pretty successful. So, pace has been pretty good,” Ferguson said recently. “Yes, in India, spin tends to play a major role. Look, with the nature of my role, some nights you are going to get hit for extra runs. That’s the risk you take. But when you take wickets, you can change the game.”
Ferguson certainly changed the game in Titans’ second match of the season. Defending 171 against Delhi Capitals, he took out Prithvi Shaw, Mandeep Singh, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel with an impeccable spell that read 4-0-28-4. If he can sustain these standards, Ferguson will be well on his way to unlocking the full extent of his capability as a strike bowler.
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