Bharath Ramaraj, M Chinnaswamy
“I think the salient point is that at your home venue, you should be able to have a better understanding of the nuances of the conditions than your opposition,” Andy Flower said in a pre-match presser before the game against SRH. “We’ve been practising here for ten days and we’ve talked about it. So I would like to think that we will be slightly ahead of the opposition on our own surface.”
Although Flower is a successful franchise coach, a part of his statement didn’t seem believable. The reason being RCB have a mixed record at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, the Bengaluru franchise has walked the talk by winning both their home games at the Chinnaswamy, including the one against the arch-rivals CSK. At RevSportz, we list out a few salient features of the template:
Aim for above-par score:
In the RCB-CSK game, the latter won the toss and opted to bowl. At that moment yours truly wondered whether CSK have a slight edge as the conditions at the Chinnaswamy seem to get better as the match progresses. RCB, though, negated that threat by reaching an above-par total of 250. With the pitch offering a hint of nip upfront, the par total seemed to be around 220-225. The likes of Tim David, Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal comfortably propelled them past that par score. In a nutshell, RCB have an impactful top order alongside an explosive middle and lower order.
The Tim David factor
Tim David’s towering sixes transport you to cricket 24 simulation game where the bowlers are pulverised into submission. To have David batting at 6, Jitesh Sharma at 7 and Romario Shepherd at 8 is a luxury that most teams can’t afford. Now one can envision RCB finding the gears to compile monstrous totals.
In the CSK-RCB game, David didn’t just send the opponent on a leather hunt with eight sixes, but he also showcased his upgraded spin-game. He continues to stay leg-side off the ball, in order to find more access to the ball and thump it through the off-side. The six that he thwacked over deep extra cover off Noor Ahmad perfectly illustrated the point. Even though he didn’t pick the variation, David supplemented his power with his method to clear the boundary rope. No wonder, David’s strike rate versus spin in the world of IPL ramped up from low 110s and 120s while playing for MI to 165 last season.
Wickets in the Powerplay
Jacob Duffy has bagged five wickets in this IPL, and all of them have come in the PowerPlay overs. His template is quite simple – Hit the deck hard and extract some bounce and nip upfront. Yesterday, Duffy bowled it a tad fuller but even then he found awkward bounce to snuff out a couple of batters. He has turned out to be an ideal replacement for Josh Hazlewood. Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been an ideal foil for Duffy.
The Krunal Pandya factor
There is an old maxim in cricket which says – Throwing the kitchen sink at the opponent. Krunal Pandya seems to adhere to that mantra all the time. Be it bowling from round the wicket to the left-hand batter or ushering in 115 kph deliveries with a round-arm action, he has survived in the harsh world of IPL. Krunal has also learnt the art of varying his pace.
And the crowd
We can’t discount the crowd factor here. Every single time a wicket fell in the RCB-CSK game, there was a crescendo of noise. One could listen to chants of “RCB, Kohli, Kohli” right through the match. The crowd could turn out to be the home side’s 12th man, provided the players are enjoying their game.
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