MI’s Player of the Match during four-wicket win over SRH, hopes to repeat heroics at weekend’s big-ticket clash against MS Dhoni’s CSK
MI’s Will Jacks during his 26-ball 36 vs SRH on Thursday. Pic/Atul Kamble
In only his fifth match last year for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in his debut IPL season, Will Jacks made the cricketing world sit up and take notice of his big-hitting abilities. While he sailed smoothly to his half-century, he then shifted gears to race from 50 to 100 in just 10 deliveries.
In his second IPL season this year, after RCB released him and MI acquired him for Rs 25 crore, the 26-year-old Englishman made his first impactful contribution in MI’s four-wicket win against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Wankhede on Thursday.
All-round show
On a difficult pitch to bat, Jacks bowled his off-spinners (2-14 in three overs) to emerge as MI’s most successful bowler, ahead of ace pacers Jasprit Bumrah (1-21) and Trent Boult (1-29). He then top-scored (36) for MI as the hosts easily chased the 163-run target.
At the post-match press conference, Player of the Match Jacks said that he knew he would have to adapt to the conditions. “I’m really happy. I knew I was going to play a role with the ball as SRH have three left-handers in the top order. We knew the pitch was going to have a little bit of assistance. We were prepared for that. Obviously, I did not expect to take more wickets than some of the quality bowlers we have,” said Jacks.
When reminded of the blistering knock he played last year for RCB against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad — an unbeaten 100 off only 41 balls — the Surrey all-rounder said: “I’d love to know when I’ll play that kind of a knock again. Unfortunately, days like that don’t come often. What you can do is put yourself in a position and work hard. Life is not that easy, cricket is not that easy. I made a good impact on the game today [Thursday] and hopefully, when we play Chennai [Super Kings] next [on Sunday] here, I’ll be able to do the same.”
Jacks admitted that it wasn’t the usual Wankhede strip. “When there was pace on the ball, we could play our shots freely as long as we did not over-hit the ball. We had to play smart, take the right options which benefitted us when we batted second. When we bowled, we adapted quite quickly like good teams do,” he said.
It was a difficult surface: Vettori
SRH head coach Daniel Vettori was all praise for Jacks’ bowling effort. “It was a difficult surface. Mumbai read the conditions exceptionally well and after the first few overs, they relied on the slow ball. Jacks’ spell was fantastic, particularly when he came up against our three left-handers. He was able to extract something out of the wicket. The batsmen said it was hard to get down to him, and when he did drop short, it sat on the wicket and made it difficult to hit. He found a good length. His style and his release in terms of a bit more of a square seam on the surface made it hard,” said Vettori.
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