'We’ve come to expect him to take a wicket in his first over' - Stuart Broad lauds 'world-class' Trent Boult

England pace bowling legend Stuart Broad complimented Rajasthan Royals left-arm pacer Trent Boult who was one of the key highlights in his side’s win against Mumbai Indians. Staying true to his reputation, Boult rattled the Mumbai Indians top-order with a double-wicket opening over in which he scalped out Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir off consecutive balls. He returned to dismissed Dewald Brevis in the third over to break Mumbai's back inside the powerplay. They never recovered, managing an undercooked 125/9 as the Royals won by six wickets in the end.

“We’ve come to expect Trent Boult to take a wicket in his first over, not necessarily two, and it was world-class bowling. The ones at Rohit Sharma, wobble seam delivery, moving across to take the outside edge, and then the in-swinger, pitching on middle stump, swinging back and hitting the middle and leg. Brevis probably wasn’t expecting to be in the first over, and in the third over he faced Trent Boult’s first ball, and all he could do was edge it to short third man. But it was fine bowling. The ball did swing, and carry through. It was exciting for me as a former fast bowler to watch this style of bowling, and I think, apart from maybe Brevis, the batters were outdone by world-class bowling rather than playing poor shots,” Broad said on Star Sports on Cricket Live. 

Broad also decoded the bowling of Rajasthan Royals' left-arm pacer Boult, explaining what makes him such a dangerous proposition with the new ball. 

“Yeah, we often hear that saying, don’t we, it’s a batter’s game, but that’s just proving the value of wicket-taking bowlers. Someone like Trent Boult, who has got a lot of experience in the IPL now as well, he’s played for a lot of different franchises, but I think when you move the ball like he does, you move the ball across the right-hander and swing it back into the right-hander, he’s very difficult to line up. So, no matter how much you’ve played against him, you’re still not really sure what you’re going to expect and what you’re going to get, and he’s not someone who’s a six foot six, so he can bowl a length that hits the stumps quite a lot, so he gets a lot of bowls, a lot of LBWs, and he’s proving his worth for Rajasthan at the moment. They’re sitting so pretty three from three, but it was a really tough night for Mumbai, it’s one of those disastrous nights that Hardik would have had nightmares about, I think.”

Also read: Hardik Pandya and Mumbai Indians have made some tactically quite poor decisions: Stuart Broad

Broad also showered praise on the bowling of Rajasthan Royals that came good against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede. In addition to Boult's 3/11, Yuzvendra Chahal shone with a three-for himself, bagging the crucial wickets of Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya in the middle overs. Additionally, Nandre Burger managed two wickets while Avesh Khan picked one too in what was a complete bowling performance by the team.

“That was just fantastic bowling. That was just a beautiful plan from Rajasthan Royals. I think you could tell with the celebration of the whole group that that[Rohit Sharma's wicket]  was a setup. They thought that Rohit would be thinking that Boult was going to swing the ball back and you can see from the seam release that it’s wobbling. That means it’s a deliberate move across the right-handed batter with the slip in place and actually a fantastic catch as well. Low down to the right are always difficult for a wicketkeeper. I actually think Rohit would probably be sitting in the changing room now, quite philosophical, like really, I can’t do a huge amount about that. It’s not like he’s played a terrible shot. I think it was fantastic bowling,” he said.

Australia cricketer Steve Smith heaped praise on Rajasthan Royals for their win against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede. “They were getting a really good length, top of the stumps, and just challenging the defence of the batters. There was enough movement in the air to create some kind of doubt. And it was one of those nights that it just seemed everything was going to hand. They’d nick it to the keeper, they’d nick it to short third man and it was one of those nights everything went the way of Rajasthan.” 

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Smith felt Rajasthan Royals bowling combined nicely for a winning cause, lauuding the guile of Chahal in particular.

“The Rajasthan Royals bowlers were creating really good angles. There’s a little bit of swing there, so they’re able to swing it back down the line and then take it across the right-hand batter. I thought they combined really nicely before Yuzvendra Chahal came on and did what Yuzvendra Chahal does, three for 11 in four overs. He bowled like an absolute genius tonight and took the ball out of the batter’s arcs, got wickets at crucial times, and they just kept taking wickets throughout the innings. And no one in Mumbai could really get going. There was a little bit of resistance from Hardik and Tilak in the middle there, but they also got out as well. It just wasn’t the night for Mumbai.”