TNPL 2024: Salem Spartans plays out dull campaign but ‘slow-ball expert’ Poiyamozhi shines bright with Purple Cap – MASHAHER

SKM Salem Spartans was the first team to be ruled out of the playoffs after finishing last in the points table with only a sole win in seven matches. However, its medium-pacer M. Poiyamozhi finished as the season’s top wicket-taker (16 wickets) to win the purple cap in the 2024 edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).

Poiyamozhi shows similarity to Dwayne Bravo in terms of the volume of slower deliveries he bowls. For instance, in the first two legs of TNPL 2023 at Coimbatore and Dindigul, 85 per cent of the total deliveries he’d bowled were slower ones.

Naturally, that invites questions about Poiyamozhi being vulnerable as batters would, by default, anticipate what kind of bowls he would bowl in most instances.

He reveals what he did to one-up the batters this time.

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“I took a cue from Mustafizur Rahman’s bowling from the latest IPL season. I watched CSK matches and observed that he kept switching between bowling from over and around the wicket,” he told Sportstar in a telephonic interview on Wednesday (August 14).

“For instance, I got Shahrukh Khan’s wicket in our last league match by switching to bowl from around the wicket,” he added.

The match he referred to had a tense finish. With four for 28, he helped his team drag the game, which it eventually lost by one wicket, till the end. Chasing 172, Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK) had played itself into a position where an explosive innings was needed. Skipper Shahrukh Khan (50, 18b, 1×4, 6×6) obliged with the fastest fifty of the season (17b). His shots came off at the right moments.

If it hadn’t been for Poiyamozhi, Shahrukh would have conveniently closed the match. After Shahrukh had picked up his slower off-cutter from over the wicket to smoke a long-on six on the first ball of his last over, he bowled a slower delivery wide off the batter from wide of the crease from around the wicket on the last ball. Consequently, Shahrukh holed out to long off.

The number of slower bowls from him was relatively fewer deliveries in 2023. “I mixed it up a lot with yorkers and seam-up. That way, the sudden slower ball became even more deceptive. This way, I’ve ended up picking up more wickets than last time,” he said.

While last time he had 13 wickets from 10 matches, it’s 16 from seven this time.

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Poiyamozhi bowls wristy off-cutters like Mustafizur Rahman does. Saying it’s a coincidence, he admits that he has “fine-tuned” that delivery by watching Mustafizur. He also has the back-of-the-hand on-seam slower delivery, the slower bouncer, and the slower dipping full toss.

“It’s a must,” he said, for a designated death-over specialist to learn to bowl slower deliveries.

“Since the ball becomes old and the batters are waiting to line you up, speed has to be varied. The ball has to go slower off the wicket.”

Poiyamozhi initially struggled in TNPL, bowling pace-on deliveries at the death.

“I was leaking runs. I realised I needed slower deliveries. So, I worked for around three years for me to get it right,” he said.

He’s bowled to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) players in a practice match during IPL 2024 at Amir Mahal here. He’s also served as a net bowler for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for three seasons and for Team India in its preparation for a T20I versus West Indies at the Chepauk stadium.

“When I bowled for Team India in the nets, I interacted with Mohammed Shami. He emphasised match preparation. He said that the preparation at the nets, and practice in general, before a match or a tournament, is very important,” Poiyamozhi said when asked to recall something memorable from his net-bowling stints.