'Our problem has always been death-over bowling' - Yuzvendra Chahal says RCB have lost over 30% of games in the last 3 overs
RCB leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has opined that the franchise's death-over bowling has been their biggest problem over the last few years. He pointed out that the runs they have leaked in the final few overs have changed the momentum of matches.
Yuzvendra Chahal threw light on the problem that has bogged RCB in the last few years in the IPL, and the steps taken by the franchise to address this issue, during an interaction with Aakash Chopra shared on the latter's Facebook page.
Aakash Chopra asked Yuzvendra Chahal if he is frustrated that RCB have had a poor three years despite excellent performances from Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and the leg-spinner himself.
The wily bowler responded that the team management always ponders over the reasons while observing that the franchise's Achilles heel has always been their bowling towards the end of the innings, other than the year Mitchell Starc was part of the franchise.
"It always comes to our mind what we should do next. I have played for RCB for 6 years, the problem has always been, other than the one year when we had Starc, our death-over bowling."
The India leg-spinner claimed that RCB have lost more than 30% of their matches due to the runs they havconceded in the last three overs after having kept the opposition batsmen in check for the first 16-17 overs of the innings.
"Because we keep a tight leash till the 16th or 17th over, but I feel we have lost at least 30% of the matches due to the last 3 overs."
Yuzvendra Chahal pointed out that the runs conceded in these last few overs have altered the momentum of the match and put them on the back-foot.
"If you restrict a team to 130-odd after 16 overs, you feel that you can keep them to 160 or at the most 170, but at times due to those 3 overs the score goes to 190 or 200. So that changes everything suddenly."
Yuzvendra Chahal on the RCB bowling lineup this year
Yuzvendra Chahal sounded optimistic about RCB's bowling attack this year. He pointed out that the growing maturity of Navdeep Saini and said that the presence of Dale Steyn, Chris Morris and Umesh Yadav provides a lot of depth to the Bangalore-based franchise's bowling attack.
"But this year I am feeling for the first time that we have a lot of options at the death. Saini has got matured, Steyn Sir is there, Morris has come and then we have Umesh bhaiya."
Yuzvendra Chahal opined that RCB have a lot of bowling options for the death this time compared to just the couple of such bowlers they had in the previous years, which should stand them in good stead.
"So currently we have a lot of options compared to other years. Because earlier after 16 overs, I used to bowl the 17th over if required else we had only two bowlers to bowl the last 4 overs."
"But now we have 3-4 options to bowl the last 4 overs. So this thing that we were missing earlier, we have covered now."
Apart from the aforementioned bowlers, RCB have also added Kane Richardson and Isuru Udana to their squad this year to address their death bowling issues.