Is Kyle Jamieson feeling the pressure of his heavy IPL price tag?
When Kyle Jamieson made his Test debut for New Zealand in March 2020, there were many things to be liked about his bowling. He was tall, he had a brilliant repetitive action and he could swing the ball away from the batsmen beautifully. All these attributes make up for quality pacers at the Test match level. But, a year down the line, a lot of things have changed for Kyle Jamieson.
Ahead of the IPL 2021 auction, everyone knew Jamieson would be a hot cake considering the lack of quality international pacers. But, when he was sold to Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 15 crores, many eyebrows were raised. The young pacer, in fact, went on to say that he didn’t even know much INR 15 crore is in New Zealand dollars.
Last night’s @IPL auction through the eyes of BLACKCAP and now @RCBTweets player Kyle Jamieson ✍? #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/Sep2bBB2LO
— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) February 19, 2021
Without any doubt, this is a lot of money for any youngster at this stage of his career. Considering this, his national team skipper Kane Williamson has an IPL contract, exactly five times less worth than that. But the IPL auction is a weird system. Yes, it allows a player to get the exact money he wants or even more than that, the contract becomes bigger and bigger if two teams desperately need the skills which that player has.
However, one major reason why fans and pundits were questioning the price tag, was because of his inexperience of playing in T20Is. Looking at RCB’s setup, it seems Kyle would be used as a death bowler as much as a new ball bowler. In the recent Australia and New Zealand T20I series, his numbers have been forgettable.
In the four matches which he played, he picked up only one wicket. His bowling average in the series was 175 and conceded those many runs in just 15 overs. His economy was 11.66. These are horror numbers for any T20I bowler. He even got smashed for 26 runs in the last over of an innings, by an ex-RCB batsman, Aaron Finch and eventually got dropped from the decider T20I.
2 . 6 6 6 . 6
What a final over for Australia as Aaron Finch makes Kyle Jamieson pay, setting New Zealand 157 to win the series.
Catch the chase, only on Spark Sport #NZvAUS ⭕️? pic.twitter.com/36mi2GK8qg
— Spark Sport (@sparknzsport) March 5, 2021
The question which is worth asking is whether the 26-year-old is feeling the pressure of the huge salary on his head. Many times, players have succumbed to this pressure and not performed according to the best of their abilities. However, Director of Cricket Operations of RCB, Mike Hesson reckons there is nothing to be worried about.
The former New Zealand head coach said recently that he believes the young man will show much improved performances in the IPL 2021. It will be interesting to see how he transforms himself in the IPL when he arrives in India to play the T20 extravaganza for the first time. Definitely, the price tag will play on his mind but will it affect him? Only time will tell. For now, the numbers aren’t looking good.
