Mumbai,apr 13
Following Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) win over five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI), South Africa batting veteran Faf Du Plessis said that the Blue and Gold side needs to find answers for their poor bowling performances beyond pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah’s four overs and need to maximise the superstar bowler by using him at key stages.The struggles continued for five-time champions and Bumrah, as half-centuries from Phil Salt, Virat Kohli and skipper Rajat Patidar took RCB to 240/4, which proved to be a match-winning total as, despite an impactful 71* in just 31 balls, with one four and nine sixes, MI fell 18 runs short and ended their innings at 222/5.Bumrah’s wicketless run in the IPL, dating back to qualifier two of the last season, continued as MI bowlers had to toil hard for each wicket, be it overcoming Kohli’s steady presence at the crease or trying to stop a non-stop barrage of fours and sixes by Salt and Patidar. Bumrah has been wicketless for the past five of his IPL matches and has gone 122 balls without any wickets, his longest wicket-less stretch in tournament history.MI has dropped to eighth spot in the points table with just one win in their four matches, with Bumrah’s struggles to get wickets playing a big part in their downfall.Speaking on Star Sports ‘Cricket Live’, JioStar expert Du Plessis said that MI needs to find answers about their poor bowling beyond Bumrah’s four overs and needs to reassess their approach, especially in the powerplay, be it bringing changes tactic-wise or in the playing XI.”When you look at that bowling attack, especially in high-scoring games of 250 or more, you have to assess what the rest of the attack is conceding beyond Bumrah’s four overs, which are usually very economical. That’s where the Mumbai Indians need to find answers. They will need to sit down and reassess their approach, particularly in the Powerplay, whether that involves tactical changes or bringing in different personnel,” he said.Speaking on Sherfane’s explosive innings, he said that the southpaw has been excellent over the last year and a half. “This performance does not come as a surprise. He has delivered consistently across T20 leagues and has significantly improved his game. Earlier, he had some struggles in certain match-ups, but he has worked on those areas and is now much more assured,” he added.Since the start of last year, Rutherford has been among the top T20 batters worldwide, with 1,982 runs in 87 innings at an average of 30.49 and a strike rate of 153.28, with seven fifties and a best score of 86.Also, JioStar expert Sunil Gavaskar spoke on MI’s batting performance, saying that MI went into a shell after Rohit Sharma retired hurt due to injury, and Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Verma fell in quick succession, and they need to keep the required run-rate in check.” As Hardik Pandya mentioned, both their batting and bowling Powerplays are not yielding the kind of results needed to take control of the game,” he added.
