Aakash Chopra has acknowledged that he had thought the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) would come unstuck on the slow surfaces in Chennai.
RCB emerged victorious in five of the seven matches they played before IPL 2021 was suspended. This included wins in all three of their encounters at Chepauk at the start of the tournament.
Aakash Chopra: Concern For Virat Kohli That He Didn’t Have Good Bowlers For Death Overs Was Resolved In IPL 2021
While reviewing RCB’s performance in a video shared on his YouTube channel, former Indian opener turned commentator Aakash Chopra admitted he believed the franchise would have a tough time in Chennai, considering their death bowling issues and reliance on overseas batsmen.
“The concern for Virat Kohli has been that he does not have good bowlers for the death, this time that task happened very well. Let’s be honest, I had thought RCB would get stuck in Chennai as their bowling will not work and there are so many overseas players in the batting,” said Aakash Chopra.
The cricketer-turned-commentator spoke in glowing terms about the improvements seen in RCB’s death bowling over the last couple of IPL seasons.
“The big change that has been seen happening – in 2019 they were getting hit a lot in the death overs, in 2020 that graph started going lower and in 2021 it went further down.
“That means while you were conceding 12-13 runs per over till 2019, now you have gone under 10, that too when Harshal Patel bowled two very expensive overs. That means you are doing a lot of things right,” observed Aaksh Chopra.
Apart from the hammering received by Harshal Patel at the hands of Ravindra Jadeja and the KL Rahul-Harpreet Brar pair, the RCB bowlers held their own in the death overs more often than not.
RCB was placed 3rd with 10 points from 7 games behind Delhi and Chennai. For the team who is yet to win the IPL title, Virat Kohli-198 runs, AB De Villiers-207 runs, Devdutt Padikkal-195 runs and Glenn Maxwell-223 runs contributed with the bat while Harshal Patel-17 wickets, Kyle Jamieson-9 wickets, Mohammed Siraj-6 wickets, Shahbaz Ahmed-4 wickets, Yuzvendra Chahal-4 wickets hogged the limelight with the ball.
Aakash Chopra Praised Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, And Shahbaz Ahmed
Aakash Chopra singled out Harshal Patel as the most significant contributor in RCB’s death bowling turnaround.
“The single most reason for the change was Harshal Patel. He took the wickets and had the Purple Cap on his head. When he took five wickets in the first match against Mumbai, the change started to happen, they got the belief that they can do it,” said Aakash Chopra.
The 43-year-old also lauded pacer Mohammed Siraj and spin all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed for their match-winning contributions with the ball.
“How well Mohammed Siraj is bowling. He bowled one over to Andre Russell, continuous wide yorkers, he did not bowl a single ball that could be hit for a six. Shahbaz Ahmed came in the middle, he bowled an odd over where he took a couple of wickets. The performances were coming together quite nicely in the bowling department,” concluded Chopra.
Harshal Patel is the current Purple Cap holder in IPL 2021, with 17 scalps to his credit. Shahbaz Ahmed and Mohammed Siraj also struck crucial blows for RCB and conceded just 6.40 and 7.34 runs per over respectively.
RCB made their best-ever start to an IPL season, winning their first four games to grab the top spot on the points table. The team was performing like a well-oiled machine under Virat Kohli as finally, all the pieces of the puzzle seemed to have come together for them this season.
RCB was third with 5 wins from 7 games before the suspension ended their dream run. RCB can still hope to make history as the IPL could be played at a later date but chances of it restarting any time soon remain bleak.