IPL 2024: Predicting 3 players who could pick up the most wickets in today's RCB vs SRH match
Out of all the nights in IPL 2024, Monday (April 15) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium is the worst time to be a bowler. SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), the best and the most fearsome batting side of the season, are paying a visit to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the best batting ground in the tournament history.
Even RCB, despite not being at their best this season, have added more meat to their batting lineup with Will Jacks and are desperate for a win. And although the Chinnaswamy is offering a hint of grip and two-paced bounce this season, the short boundaries offset most of it, making bowlers' lives miserable.
Considering that, we have tried to pick three bowlers who can come out on top despite the odds stacked against them. Take a look:
#3 Pat Cummins
This selection is less about the form and the underlying numbers and more about the kind of bowler Pat Cummins is.
The SRH captain has roles divided for a decently balanced bowling attack and uses himself shrewdly - not in any particular phase but against specific batters and situations according to the match-ups.
This gives him the best chance to take wickets, even on flat decks, because his execution of those plans is better than most. That's how he's one of the few bowlers in IPL 2024 yet to go through a game without picking a wicket.
At Chinnaswamy, those are the skills you need. You can expect Cummins to come up with set plans for each RCB batter and the hosts are also likely to get troubled against his slower ones which he's using to perfection this season.
#2 Vijaykumar Vyshak
RCB's selection choices have been such that one of their best local bowlers, well-suited for the current conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Vijayumar Vyshak, has only played two games in IPL 2024. He has picked important wickets (Phil Salt and Suryakumar Yadav) in both, costing fewer runs than most of his teammates.
If RCB don't drop him again, Vyshak could be handy against SRH. He can make the ball jag off the surface at a decent pace as stock deliveries while adding deceptive variations too.
The visitors' big hitters struggled against the same type of bowling against Punjab Kings (PBKS). And because the boundaries are shorter here, they'd want to attack him more, creating more wicket-taking chances.
#1 Bhuvneshwar Kumar
SRH would be immensely glad to see their most seasoned player come back to form. After going wicketless in the first three games in IPL 2024, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has bowled spells of 1/28 and 2/32 in the last two matches, with all of his wickets being opening batters in the powerplay, thus having a big impact too.
The kind of bowler Bhuvneshwar is, he's likely to get on a good run of form till the end of IPL 2024. Chinnaswamy offers a bit of swing early on too, especially under lights. RCB's best batter, Virat Kohli, has gotten out four times, averaging just 27 against him in the IPL while the rest of their batting order is shaky at best.
Bhuvneshwar is also one of the rare Indian pacers to average as low as 23.44 with an economy rate of 7.32 after nine IPL matches at the Chinnaswamy. This match could be the one for him to get his best spell of the season.