Nathan Ellis has produced a player-of-the-match, four-wicket spell for Punjab Kings, including the key dismissal of Jos Buttler
Match Report:
ScorecardEllis enjoys day out as Punjab win IPL thriller
Holding his nerve even better than the way he held a ball that felt like a bar of soap, Nathan Ellis has continued his heady rise with a player-of-the-match display in the Indian Premier League.
Ellis, who seems to grab gleefully at every chance that comes his way on the international stage, took 4-30 off his four decisive overs to inspire Punjab Kings to a thrilling five-run win over Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old proved the game changer when, in his opening over, he pulled off an athletic caught and bowled to get rid of Jos Buttler (19 off 11), racing to take a running, tumbling grab after the in-form England white-ball captain had looped a mistimed shot off his pads.
Employing cross-seam deliveries as the best way to deal with a dew-soaked ball, Ellis then got rid of captain Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag in successive balls stretched over two different overs when they mistimed heavy hits off his skidding deliveries.
Ellis just missed out on a hat-trick next ball when he beat Shimron Hetmyer's outside edge, but at the end of that over he cleaned bowled Devdutt Padikkal with another full-pace, skiddy one.
Though he did take some stick in his final over, which went for 16, Ellis's spell was to prove decisive as Rajasthan, chasing 4-197, fell just short on 7-192 despite some late heroics from Hetmyer (36 off 18) and impact sub Dhruv Jurel (32no off 15).
It represented the latest breakthrough in the rise of the Hobart and Tasmania bowler Ellis, who has made his international white-ball debuts over the last two years, including a hat-trick against Bangladesh on his T20I bow.
He only played twice for the Kings last year but is already making himself indispensable after also performing well for Australia in the recent ODI series win in India with a couple of wickets in the win at Visakhapatnam.
"It's one of those days where you can potentially bowl not your best and get rewards," he said modestly at the presentation ceremony afterwards, having done his most to protect Punjab's total which had featured an unbeaten 86 from captain Shikhar Dhawan.
"There's some other guys in the team tonight who probably deserved some of the rewards, I'm just stoked to get the win.
"Each ball is a moment. I don't want to get too swept up in one over's time, five overs' time, ten overs' time.
"T20 is getting to the point where every run counts, every ball counts and staying in the moment is key. Easier said than done, especially on nights like tonight, but fortunately it went our way.
"When I was bowling in the back end, I was really trying to focus on, one, drying the ball - because it was so wet - and what was the best way to get my execution right.
"I tried to calculate what was the best percentage ball for me in that time and to restrict their runs; for me, it was cross-seam."
IPL 2023 standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
GUT
|
14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.809 | 0 | 20 |
|
2
CSK
|
14 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0.652 | 0 | 17 |
|
3
LSG
|
14 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0.284 | 0 | 17 |
|
4
MI
|
14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.044 | 0 | 16 |
|
5
RAJ
|
14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.148 | 0 | 14 |
|
6
RCB
|
14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.135 | 0 | 14 |
|
7
KKR
|
14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -0.239 | 0 | 12 |
|
8
KXI
|
14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | -0.304 | 0 | 12 |
|
9
DEL
|
14 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | -0.808 | 0 | 10 |
|
10
SUN
|
14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | -0.59 | 0 | 8 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points
Aussies in IPL 2023
Delhi Capitals: Mitch Marsh ($1.2m), David Warner ($1.16m)
Gujarat Titans: Matthew Wade ($446,000)
Lucknow Super Giants: Marcus Stoinis ($1.7m), Daniel Sams ($135,000)
Mumbai Indians: Tim David ($1.53m), Cameron Green ($3.15m), Jason Behrendorff ($135,000)
Punjab Kings: Nathan Ellis ($135,000), Matt Short ($36,000)
Rajasthan Royals: Adam Zampa ($270,000)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Josh Hazlewood ($1.4m), Glenn Maxwell ($2m)
Figures represent auction price in Australian dollars at time of sale