New Delhi, August 27, 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore are prepared for the possibility of playing to a different beat of T20 cricket than they’ve been accustomed to at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Head Coach Simon Katich acknowledged the run-scoring may not be as freeflowing in the UAE this time of the year given the likelihoood of extreme heat, touching upwards of 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoons, as well as multiple games having an effect on the pitch.
Since 2016, considering T20Is involving Pakistan as well as the PSL, Dubai and Sharjah have recorded average first innings scores of 150 and 152 respectively. At the bigger Abu Dhabi, the average total drops to 135. Contrast this with numbers from IPL 2019 that saw a tournament first-innings average of 169. At the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, the average score last season was 180.
“It’ll be interesting to see how the pitches cope this time of the year,” Katich said. “Because there’s been a lot of cricket played in a short span of time, then there’s potential that knowing these conditions where it is hot and dry, we’ll see some challenging wickets particularly from the batting point of view and that’ll present a different style of cricket at times, which is exciting as well.
“The beauty of T20 cricket is you want all types of players in action and sometimes that doesn’t always happen when you play on absolute belters that don’t spin or don’t do much for the bowlers. If the bowlers have a little bit in this tournament, then it might be interesting to see how the batsmen cope.
“Just like IPL in India, we’ve gained huge amount of data at every venue. Sharjah quite different to the others, the attributes it has in terms of bounce, boundary sizes – we’re aware of all the statistics surrounding certain players and certain grounds, certain types of players on certain grounds. Abu Dhabi is a bigger ground, we know prevailing winds, what it does at day and at night. Nothing comes as a surprise for us.”
RCB are blessed with a bountiful of free-flowing strokemakers, more so at the top of the order where they have to narrow down from a multitude of options including new signing Aaron Finch, Parthiv Patel, Devdutt Padikkal and Josh Phillipe. Captain Virat Kohli has been a regular presence at the top of the order for the side but may well play at one-drop given the need for middle-order’s one upmanship, that could decide fate of the games.
“We obviously have a number of players that like to bat at the top of the order, but the challenge in this IPL could really well be who dominates in the middle overs the most and plays, particularly spin, and maybe even pace based on conditions,” team direcor Mike Hesson said.
The conditions will force a tweak in RCB’s bowling plans as well with star India legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal playing a central role, even more than usual if that’s possible. He is, however, the only wrist spinner in the setup, something Katich agreed was a risk according to the reports published in cricbuzz.com.
“Well I guess the beauty about Chahal is that obviously he’s got a huge amount of experience. He’s done well here in the past. His record for RCB speaks for itself,” the head coach said. “Yes, we knew it was a risk with him being the only one [leggie] in the squad.
“But we also know we’ve got a number of off-spinners that can play a role in these conditions and also provide all-round ability, not just with the bat but also in the field. So between [Washington] Sundar, [Pawan] Negi, Shahbaz Ahmed and obviously Moeen Ali. Also even with Gurkeerat Singh Mann, we’ve got a number of players that can play a role in these spinning conditions. We feel we’ve got a lot of bases covered in the spinning department but obviously just got the one leg spinner.”
The focus on spin and middle-overs play, however, could turn out to be a blessing in disguise for RCB and alleviate the pressure on their major bugbear – death-overs bowling. Over the last two seasons, they’ve had a death-overs (16-20) economy rate of 11.87 and 10.83 – the worst and second-worst record in the league respectively. Having to forcibly move away from the Chinnaswamy Stadium – with its true bounce, thin air and short boundaries – may work to their advantage after all.
“At Chinnaswamy we had to plan of bringing some recognised death bowling in,” Katich said. “Obviously we got the experience of Chris Morris to come in and fill that role. Obviously we felt that young Navdeep Saini is getting more and more exposure at the international level and has done well in that role last year. We’ve obviously bought a number of overseas options like Isuru Udana, Kane Richardson and Dale Steyn. In t terms of the balance we’ve also got Umesh and Siraj. We’ve got a number of quicks for a variety of different conditions.
“But like a lot of teams, it’ll come down to what the conditions are and potentially if it’s spinning then there are other options to bowl at the back end of the innings. Sometimes, if you have done damage through the middle with the spinners, then the death overs are not as crucial as they are when you are playing on flatter wickets like the Chinnaswamy Stadium. We feel that we’ve got a number of guys to play that role in the death overs compared to previous years.”
