Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s bowling has proved to be the most potent in this IPL resulting in the defending champions’ intimidating showing. Another power-packed performance from their bowlers helped them crush Gujarat Titans on way to the final on Tuesday.
It’s not just about Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s discipline and accuracy or Josh Hazlewood’s consistency, Jacob Duffy and Rasikh Salam too have played their part, not to mention Krunal Pandya’s imaginative and innovative stuff.
Bhuvneshwar is now the highest wicket-taker along with Kagiso Rabada with 26 scalps at an economy of 8.0 in 15 matches. This stupendous performance from the veteran India pacer has now even forced the national selectors to sit up and take notice.
A lot of behind the scenes work involving the support staff has gone into making this performance possible as Bhuvi revealed after Qualifier 1. He said the use of the ‘scramble seam’ helped in reaping the rewards in Dharamsala.
“We’ve used the scramble seam a lot, looking at the wickets and conditions, and it’s not just me, Josh, Duffy, all of them have done it,” said Bhuvi on JioHotstar.
“When GT bowled, we saw that there wasn’t much swing there. A lot of planning goes into it, when to use it, it’s not random, and it depends on how the wicket is behaving. When there’s a bit of seam or swing in the first six, I try to extract that and try something that will be difficult for batters to hit.
“So it’s about being proactive, like batters are these days. If it’s a slow wicket, where the ball might stop on the surface, I may use the knuckle ball sometimes, but mostly it’s the scramble seam, considering the wicket and the conditions,” the pacer said.
Former RCB captain AB de Villiers mentioned that Jos Buttler’s wicket swung it in the defending champions’ favour.
“It was an important moment in the game for RCB. Jos Buttler was just getting a bit of momentum and looked dangerous... Then Hazlewood, with that slower ball, showed very clear thinking under pressure once again, as he always does,” De Villiers said.
“Even though he was going for a few boundaries, he had the presence of mind to pull it back, use the slower pace and get a big wicket.”