Mitchell Starc has been missed: Allan Donald

Mitchell Starc has been missed: Allan Donald: Former South African pacer and Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling coach Alan Donald has said that his team is missing Australian pacer Mitchell Starc badly in the ongoing IPL. Donald believes Starc, who was the Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup, can be the X-factor that Royal Challengers desperately are looking for to bolster their pace pack.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo, he said When there are 40,000 people in the stadium, and the ideas are rushing through your head about what to do, that is when the experienced hands like AB, Sammy or Starcy play a huge role. The presence of Starc at the other end, Donald said, would add confidence to the likes of Aaron and the Indian domestic quicks Harshal and Nechim. I know what it is like bowling in partnerships with Shaun Pollock and when he wasn’t there how it affected the balance of the team simply in terms of the X-factor from the both ends. Starc also brings the best out Varun Aaron. I know that for a fact. They bowl well together. They bowl hard in the middle overs as a partnership. It is huge. If Starcy was in any IPL team right now he would be severely missed. Starcy has an effect on the team.

Starc I expected to join the team in the next few days after recovering from a minor injury. Donald also said that in the first match against Kolkata Knight Riders, his bowlers did a reasonable job and against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Warner’s swashbuckling start gave them an upper hand and his bowlers were not allowed to settle in.

Against Knight Riders we weren’t too bad. The thing that frustrates coaches is when people don’t stick to bowling plans. But we stuck to our bowling plans really well in Kolkata. In the second game weren’t good enough. One could argue the fact that bowlers were struggling to land properly because the creases were very wet. But that shouldn’t’ be an excuse. Sunrisers got off to a blistering start which we did not want. It was all that an easy wicket. It was tacky. We spoke beforehand that we are going to have to hit the lengths really hard. We did the completely opposite. We bowled full. We got driven. They were 60-odd for no loss in no time, he added.

Donald also mentioned about the importance of having AB de Villiers and Darry Sammy in the side. They help the bowlers when they return to the bowling mark. A lot of things go through your mind when you just been hit for two sixes. A lot of emotions creep in. That is why we tell the leaders of the group, Darren Sammy and AB de Villiers, to go and speak to the bowler. There is the 15-second chill where the bowler walks back to the mark and during this period a lot of gremlins sit on your shoulder and dictate to you ‘bowl this, bowl that, he added.