Tim Southee bowls his 3rd-most expensive spell in IPL: Stats
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowlers had a tough outing in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season opener versus Punjab Kings (PBKS). PBKS posted a mammoth 191/5 after being put on to bat first. Veteran pacer Tim Southee was the side's most expensive bowler, claiming 2/54 in four overs. These are his third-most expensive figures in IPL. Here are further details.
A tough day for Southee
KKR skipper Nitish Rana won the toss and elected to bowl in Mohali. Southee was introduced in the second over, where he conceded 14 runs besides dismissing Prabhsimran Singh 23(12). He gave away 12 and 13 runs in his second and third over, respectively. Assigned to bowl the final over, Southee conceded 15 runs. Jitesh Sharma (21) was his other victim in the contest.
Third-most expensive spell
As mentioned, Southee recorded the third-most expensive spell of his IPL career. Last season, he finished with 0/57 vs Lucknow Super Giants. Playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, he conceded 0/61 against his current team KKR. This was the ninth occasion of Southee conceding 40 or more runs in an IPL match. Meanwhile, he has raced to 47 wickets in 53 IPL games (ER: 8.63).
How did the innings pan out?
Prabhsimran Singh's 12-ball 23 got PBKS off to a flying start. Post his departure, skipper Shikhar Dhawan (40) joined forces with Bhanuka Rajapaksa (50), and the duo added 86 runs for the second wicket. Jitesh Sharma (21), Sikandar Raza (16), Sam Curran (26*), and Shahrukh Khan (11*) also made handy contributions. Besides Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, and Sunil Narine claimed one wicket apiece
