Despite having the best batting lineup in this tournament so far, the Royal Challengers Bangalore have struggled. With 4 games remaining, the Royal Challengers need to win all their games, in order to qualify for the playoffs. Their bowling has been simply pathetic this time around, with their bowlers seeming to be utterly clueless.
In particular, it has been the death bowling, which has caused quite a few headaches for Virat Kohli. Against the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Royal Challengers bowlers were dismal, as Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell chased down almost 90 within the last 6 overs. Their game against the Mumbai Indians too was another disappointing bowling effort.
In his chat with the press, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal cited his team’s death bowling as a cause of poor performance. “We’ve been giving away too many runs at the death,” said Chahal. “Only Watson has been bowling well in the death. He bowls only two then, and in those other two, we have been giving away too many runs. In many games, we’ve been giving away too many in the powerplay.”
Backing latest recruit Chris Jordan to do well, Chahal said, “Jordan’s playing his first IPL and he’s playing on a small ground like Bangalore.” “There will be a bit of pressure on the bowlers. Especially when you’re bowling at the death, you will go for runs or could win matches, like in Mohali where he bowled well and won us the match by one run. There’s no pressure because everyone knows what they have to do.”
Speaking about their game against the Mumbai Indians, Chahal said, “Bowlers have a bit of a chance then because batsmen will hit you so you can build pressure. If you can stop singles in the circle then you can build pressure on the other side. In the last match, we lost the game in the last three overs. We were in it for 17 overs.”