It’s not often that a five-for ends up being the subplot in a T20 game. Andre Russell‘s record-equaling five-for in 12 balls was among the quickest five-wicket hauls taken in the IPL, but it was Mumbai Indians’ Rahul Chahar who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for throwing Knight Riders’ chase in disarray with a four-wicket haul.
ESPNcricinfo’s Smart Stats endorses Chahar’s impact on the game. Chahar earned 117 impact points for his bowling efforts (he earned six points for his valuable 8 with the bat). His impact on the game was 31 points clear of the next most impactful performance in the match. Chahar came on to bowl in the ninth over with the Knight Riders firmly in control of the chase. Each of his four overs produced a wicket: the top four of the Knight Riders’ batting order, including the in-form Nitish Rana. According to Smart Stats, Chahar’s four wickets in the game were worth 6.34 smart wickets. Smart Stats gives each wicket an impact value based on the quality of the batsman and the stage of the innings at which he is dismissed.
In contrast, four of Russell’s five victims were lower-order batsmen. Three of those wickets came in the last over of the innings, when the damage the Mumbai tailenders could’ve done was limited. Kieron Pollard’s wicket was the most valuable wicket that Russell took considering the context of the game. There were 17 balls left in the innings when Pollard was dismissed potentially stopping him from playing a match-changing innings. Pollard’s wicket fetched Russell 1.57 smart wicket value. However, his other four wickets contributed just 1.83 smart wicket value. In all, Russell’s five wickets in the match considering the match situation (based on the impact the batsmen dismissed by could’ve had) was worth 3.4 Smart Wickets. In fact, Russell’s exploits with the ball in the match ranked fifth in terms of Bowling Impact. Pat Cummins’ 2 for 24, Krunal Pandya’s 1 for 13 and Trent Boult’s 2 from 27 were considered more impactful than Russell’s given the context of the game.
Overall, Suryakumar Yadav’s 36-ball 56 had the second-highest impact on the match with 92.4 points, followed by Krunal Pandya’s efforts with the ball and the bat, which fetched him 79.9 impact points.