Big picture - Spin struggles of a different kind for MI and RCB
The security guards in the lower tier of the stands at the media end of Wankhede Stadium were kept busy on Wednesday. They all had 'ball retrievers' added to their job description for the evening.
Faf du Plessis had two stints at the nets. Glenn Maxwell one, Cameron Green one, Mahipal Lomror, Rajat Patidar, Tom Curran, Suyash Prabhudessai all one. And the prime focus was facing hitting spin. RCB had a plethora of net bowlers bowling spin and the batters' aim was to hit them as far as they could.
In the IPL since 2021, spinners have had an economy rate of 7.82 at the Wankhede Stadium. In the middle overs (7 to 16), they have returned 109 wickets at an economy of rate 7.76.
In IPL 2024, RCB have had a tough time against spinners in the middle overs. Their average of 50.75 for the loss of just four wickets may not be bad, but they have been the second-slowest scoring team against spin in that phase. Their strike rate of 125 is only better than KKR's 122.68 in the middle overs. Among RCB batters who have faced at least ten balls of spin in the middle overs, only Patidar (171.42) and Virat Kohli (142.42) have a strike rate in excess of 110.
All these point towards an area of weakness waiting to be exploited. However, Mumbai have not bowled a lot of spin at the Wankhede Stadium so far this year. Piyush Chawla and Mohammad Nabi combined for four overs in their previous outing, while Chawla was the lone spinner used for three overs against Rajasthan Royals. RCB's training methods suggested that they are bracing for a bit of spin test come match day.
So far in this IPL, Mumbai have bowled the least amount of spin - 18 overs of which Chawla has bowled 10. They have picked up just two wickets with spin and their economy rate of 11.22 is the worst among the teams this year.
In case Mumbai do decide to employ more spin, they have left-arm spinner Shams Mulani and Kumar Karthikeya, who can spin it both ways, to turn to. Will Mumbai change their methods to exploit RCB's potential problems?
comment:
p_commentcount