NEWSMumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Shane Bond on Friday (April 16) praised the team's leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, saying the 21-year-old is a wicket-taking bowler and his role never changes in the star-studded team. Chahar, who has played 3 T20 Internationals (T20I) for India, returned with match-winning figures of 4 for 27 as the five-time champions defended a low score against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to register their first win of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.
"He is doing extremely well, if you look at Rahul (Chahar), he is still an incredibly young man, who has played a fair-bit of cricket and now some high-pressure cricket, and (in) finals and a key member of our team, so in terms of his development, I still think he is got a long way to go," Bond said ahead of the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who have lost both their matches.
"He (Rahul) is a good listener and he is keen to get out there and implement it in the game and hope that will continue over the next few years, said 42-year-old Bond, who played 18 Tests and 82 ODIs for New Zealand.
According to Bond, Chahar's role in the team never changes and the side wants him to bowl wicket-taking deliveries. "We have got some outstanding strike bowlers to bowl in the power-play, Trent Boult, Booms (Jasprit Bumrah), and whoever compliments them, Krunal Pandya who is brilliant for us in the last game, probably slightly more defensive bowler. And Rahul is a wicket-taking bowler, you make him bowl those balls that are just too good," Bond said.
"Example is just the powerful (balls he bowled) in the last game he bowled absolute jaffa, his role is to come and spin the ball and if the boys are around and create some pressure, it gives him opportunity to take those wickets, so that's the role we look for him to do in the team," he added.
Against Sunrisers, Bond stressed that it was important to get rival skipper David Warner and Jonny Bairstow out. "Got to get those two guys (Warner and Bairstow) out. Davey is one of the best batsmen in the IPL, a talisman for their team. We know how important they are," he said.
"They (Sunrisers) are very disciplined with the way they go about their work. They flogged us in the last game (we played against them) last season. They played beautifully. We plan the same for every team - how we are going to get them out, how we are going to best utilize the conditions," added Bond.
Bond signed off by saying that the key to winning championships was having a strong attack and Mumbai Indians have "had five international bowlers playing in the bowling line up for a long-time."
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