IPL 2020: ‘Chris Morris provides balance to the RCB squad,’ says Gautam Gambhir
Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir has heaped praise on Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Chris Morris, saying he could provide the squad with much-needed balance this IPL season.
On a Star Sports show Gambhir said that while there are no such obvious overseas picks for RCB’s starting line-up, Morris would be able to provide finishing touches with both bat and ball. The South African was snapped up by RCB in the player auction last December for a staggering INR 10 crore.
“Chris Morris provides balance to the RCB squad, a quality all-rounder although he has not played much cricket. He can be a finisher as a batsman and can also give you 4 overs and bowl at the death... They have Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal as well but it will have to be seen which 4 overseas players RCB pick in their XI,” Gambhir said.
Morris, who represented the Delhi franchise from 2016 to 2019, didn’t quite perform up to his full potential there. In 22 matches, he scored 232 runs and picked up 28 wickets.
You might see a better performance from RCB’s bowlers: Gambhir
One of the biggest concerns plaguing RCB over the years has been death bowling, which is why the team has not been able to win matches despite putting up a ton of runs on the board.
Gambhir, who won two IPL titles with KKR in 2012 and 2014, feels RCB are still a bit batting-heavy. But he added that the RCB bowlers could fare well in IPL 2020 because the grounds in the UAE aren’t as small as the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
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“The bowlers will be happy because they will not have to play 7 matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. You will be playing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi which probably have bigger grounds, wickets are not as flat as Chinnaswamy. It is always difficult to judge the bowlers from Chinnaswamy’s point of view...you might see a better performance from bowlers like Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini,” Gambhir concluded.
If RCB can address their death bowling woes and Chris Morris can bridge the gap between the power-packed batting line-up and the fragile bowling attack, RCB could very well win their first-ever IPL trophy.