IPL 2020: Predicting and ranking the death-bowling pairs of all 8 teams
The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) is exactly a week away, and the franchises are sweating it out in the UAE in preparation for the tournament.
The opening game of IPL 2020 will see the Chennai Super Kings take on the Mumbai Indians on the 19th of September. Right from the very first match, death bowling will be one of the key aspects that will determine every team's fortunes.
Ranking the death-bowling pairs of all 8 IPL 2020 teams
With the T20 format becoming increasingly batsman-friendly, the willow-wielders often rack up massive totals in the final five overs of the innings. All 8 teams have attempted to invest heavily on death bowlers to effectively prevent losing matches at the death.
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Ahead of IPL 2020, we attempt to predict who the two main death-overs bowlers from each team will be, and rank them (from worst to best) in terms of how strong the combination looks.
#8 Royal Challengers Bangalore - Chris Morris and Navdeep Saini
RCB have majorly struggled with death bowling over the years in the IPL, and although they tried to address this issue by buying Chris Morris, their problems are set to continue.
The South African can't be relied on to hit the yorkers consistently, and is more suited to the middle overs than the death due to his hit-the-deck style of bowling. Navdeep Saini, on the other hand, has shown that he has a good yorker in his arsenal, but it remains to be seen if he has the variations needed to be a solid death bowler.
RCB might fare better in IPL 2020 than they did in previous seasons, but they are still not good enough to be placed higher on this list.
#7 Rajasthan Royals - Jofra Archer and Jaydev Unadkat
RR have Jofra Archer and Jaydev Unadkat to call upon at the death and while the former is a good choice considering his pace, variations and yorkers, the latter definitely is a weak link in the lineup.
Archer has bowled at the death on the biggest stages, such as the 2019 World Cup, with reasonable success. Unadkat, on the other hand, has been incredibly expensive and predictable since his excellent season for the Rising Pune Supergiant.
While this combination doesn't exactly inspire confidence, both bowlers' experience at the death might serve RR well in IPL 2020.