Head coach Daniel Vettori says he’s quite happy with how the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen have been performing (1:47)
On Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore leaked the joint second-highest number of runs (88) in the final five overs in IPL history against Rajasthan Royals, allowing them to post 217. It was the third-highest total for any team against RCB in the IPL. On Tuesday, RCB once again were in a charitable mood, as Mumbai Indians ravaged 70 runs in the slog overs. They ended up with 213 – the fourth-highest total against RCB in tournament history. In both matches, RCB’s batsmen failed to chase down record targets.
It came as no surprise then to hear Daniel Vettori put his finger on exactly why Royal Challengers are languishing in seventh place: the failure of his bowling attack to counter the opposition’s surge at the death (overs 16-20).
Virat Kohli, the captain, was furious at the failure of his batsmen to stitch together match-turning partnerships, but he would be the first to agree with Vettori’s assessment. Kohli had won the toss and declared that the Wankhede pitch favoured chasing, especially because he was mindful of the cloud cover.
Two wickets off the first two balls of the match by Umesh Yadav suggested Kohli’s decision was a wise one. Winless in their first three matches, Mumbai were desperate. However, Royal Challengers’ plans were torn apart by the marauding Trinidadian batsman Evin Lewis, whose quickfire half-century, combined with trademark acceleration towards the end from Rohit, took Mumbai to a massive total.
According to Vettori, the bowlers’ below-par performance only further added to the batsmen’s burden. “The frustration will be around the backend of the bowling, because when you are chasing that much, it puts an extreme amount of pressure on how we play,” Vettori said. “Virat played exceptionally well today, but unfortunately no one could go with him. So our frustrations will be about how we ended with the ball in the last two games.”
Royal Challengers have fared the worst among all teams at the death this tournament. Teams have scored at 12.49 an over against them during this phase. It is consistent with the numbers of their leading bowlers. Despite the sparkling start, Umesh failed to create further dents. His economy rate in the death overs so far this IPL is 15.20. Chris Woakes’ is 10.89, although he has taken six wickets. Kulwant Khejroliya, the uncapped Indian left-arm fast bowler, goes at a steep 13.63.
Vettori said that one big difference in the bowling attacks on Tuesday was the contrasting strategy applied by the spinners. If Krunal Pandya and Mayank Markande were attacking for Mumbai, Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar were defensive, bowing to the pressure created by Lewis and Rohit early on.
“Washington and Yuzi were probably in defensive positions as Lewis and Rohit were going bit more aggressive. And so, we probably bowled a bit more defensively,” Vettori said. “When the Mumbai spinners came on, they were in a really good position, and that allowed them to actually bowl a little more attacking, with a bit more flight, put something on the ball, and you saw the rewards they got. But they (Mumbai) batted exceptionally well, and that was the difference between when our spinners bowled and when their spinners bowled.”
Source: ESPN Crickinfo