EXCLUSIVE
Follow UsWest Indies batting legend Brian Lara felt that teams could exploit Delhi Capitals' batting weaknesses as they don't have a lot of experienced T20 campaigners following their defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday. Batting first in their final league game, DC were restricted to 164/5 in 20 overs after a big opening partnership between Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan.
"Clearly, there are chinks within their batting. There are no weaknesses in their bowling as they two wonderful spinners and three outstanding fast bowlers. It is unfortunate that they are missing Stoinis, but Steve Smith is not a T20 player of the highest class. Even though it is the right decision to leave him out, it will leaves a lot of gaps. Pant, Shaw, Hetmyer are all not that experienced like Dhawan is, so they can exposed in some ways," Lara told Cricket.com.
Lara praised KS Bharath after the keeper-batter scored a six off the final to take RCB to a thrilling seven-wicket win. As Lara had predicted previously on Cricket.com's Man vs Machine, promoting Bharath to No.3 had worked for RCB as he scored at strike rate of 150 in his unbeaten 52-ball 78.
"Whenever I saw him bat in the UAE, he has always taken the pressure off the others. He is a very classy looking player. There is always need for a batsman who is not slow and keep the momentum going. RCB were pushing Dan Christian at No.3 who was failing and this young man who was being pushed down the order. It was only a matter of time before he was back at No.3, which is a key position in the team," Lara said.
The West Indies great felt that in order to cement his position in a big franchise like RCB, Bharath has to deliver consistently just like Suryakumar Yadav did for Mumbai Indians in the previous edition.
"Last year Mumbai Indians won the tournament before Suryakumar Yadav was batting at No.3. I'm not saying RCB will win the tournament because of Bharath, but he has played his hand very well. He has to perform a lot more on this stage consistently. He is a very promising player. I think he is 28 so he is not really young, but he can play for big franchises like RCB," Lara said.
The Eliminator 1 between KKR and RCB will take place on Sunday place at Sharjah, where conditions have been treacherous for batting this season. Lara spoke from his own experience playing at venue where run-scoring can become easy by forcing bowlers to change their lengths.
"Sharjah is a different wicket. More than just dealing with the bowlers, batsmen have to deal with the conditions first. Most of the batsmen want to play across the line. No one wants to bat out of the crease. You have to make that 22 yards into 18 yards or 16 yards and make the bowler change his length. I have played at Sharjah and its no different to the years gone by. The team that's going to hold to their wickets for the last five overs is going to do well. If they think they'll bat aggressively throughout, they'll run into trouble," he said.
