EXCLUSIVE
Follow UsYuzvendra Chahal is yet to pick up a wicket in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this season and has conceded runs at 8.75. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) may have won both their games so far, but the form of their leg-spinner remains a matter of concern. Chahal finished with 20 wickets in IPL 2020, which played a pivotal part in RCB making it to the playoffs. However, this time, the fast bowlers and young left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed have done exceedingly well, which has not put much of a spotlight on Chahal thus far.
In a bid to make it three in three, RCB face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday (April 18). Former West Indies captain Brian Lara reckons Chahal is not offering much if he does not pick up wickets.
“He has been successful in T20s. But there are other young players coming up. He is the traditional leg-spinner. He bowls a good leg-break, spins it a bit, hardly relies on his googly, but he has it in his armoury. But he’ll need to do a little bit more and you need to be a lot more consistent and more wicket-taking.,” Lara said in a face-off against Criclytics, Cricket.com’s AI-driven prediction platform.
“We can understand if he goes for a lot of runs, but he’s a wicket-taker. If you’re not putting wickets in your bag when you’re bowling leg-spin, you could be in for some trouble,” he added.
Lara feels there’s no need for RCB to make any changes to their XI, given that it is the same bunch of players, who have given them the two victories so far.
“I will stick with the same combinations. The two victories have been very close but those are the guys that got you over the line and I think it’s necessary that you give them the confidence. Some guys may not be performing to the best of their abilities, but you got them for the first XI for the very first match,” the batting great said on Cricket.com’s Man vs Machine.
“You still have a 100 percent win ratio. Keep going with them. Work with them in the nets and make sure that they can produce for you. If they do – if a guy like Chahal produces – you know it’s an extra weapon that you have and that’s just great. The best combination they have for that surface is on the field,” he further added.
Switching attention to KKR, they would look to get back to winning ways after choking against Mumbai Indians (MI) in their previous match. While there is nothing wrong with imbibing the England white-ball blueprint in KKR, Lara reckons that they will have to be a little circumspect, given the conditions in Chennai.
“Yes, there’s nothing wrong with that blueprint of aggression and more aggression. Always trying to put pressure on the bowling team immediately, no matter what. But on some occasions, you’ve got to take into consideration the pitch that you’re playing on. This pitch is not that conducive to that sort of cricket,” Lara points out.
“This pitch wants you to stay out there and bat, score at seven, eight or maybe nine runs an over, coming to the end. Do not go out there thinking you can crunch the ball and spank it to all parts of the ground in the last five overs. You’ve still got to respect what’s going on in the middle. The opposing captains, the fielding captains have realised what’s happening. They’re saving their best bowlers for those kinds of situations. So, you have to counter that by playing sensibly,” he concluded.
Incidentally, this will be the last match for both teams in Chennai. They will move on to the Mumbai and Ahmedabad legs after this match. However, while RCB will play the final phase of the group stages in Kolkata, KKR will move to RCB’s home of Bengaluru to play their final five matches in the round-robin phase.
