Trent Boult celebrates after dismissing Ajinkya Rahane
There was a lot of concern pertaining to the fitness of Mumbai Indians speedster Trent Boult ahead of the IPL 2020 final after he walked off with an injury during Qualifier 1 tie last week. But he shrugged off all the doubts with twin strikes with the new ball in the summit clash against Delhi Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday. And with the two early strikes, he scripted not one but three records.
He walked into the game with five powerplay wickets against the Capitals, and took his tally to six with the first-ball dismissal of Delhi's trump-card Marcus Stoinis. He delivered a short-of-length delivery and tightened his line around the off stump. Left in two minds, Stoinis went for the poke which generated a soft outside edge and the remainder was done by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. This was the first time that a wicket fell in the first over of an IPL final and the first of its kind in Boult's T20 career.
This was also his eighth first-over wicket this season, having conceded just 73 runs at less than five runs per over in 15 matches. He surpassed Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who previously held the record of six such dismissals in 2016.
He took his tally to eight in his second over in the game with the dismissal of Ajinkya Rahane. He got the ball to move away from the pads and delivered it around the leg side. Rahane, looking to tuck it behind, got a feather touch and De Kock completed the dismissal behind.
He ended powerplay with 16 wickets this season - at an economy rate of 6.7and a 13.5 strike rate - the joint-most for a bowler in a single season, tying former MI bowler Mitchell Johnson who had recorded the same tally back in 2013.
Boult's overall powerplay performance is however not the best ever recorded in IPL history in terms of strike rate. RCB bowler Umesh Yadav had recorded a strike rate of 13.2 wickets in 2018 in his tally of 14 powerplay strikes.
