Tim Southee reveals RCB bowlers' strongest skill set that propelled them to victory against MI

At the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, experts believed that this was the strongest Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB side in 10 years. There were very few who argued that statement as the franchise had invested heavily on the bowling department that has disappointed the fans on numerous occasions. A good mix of all-rounders along with a strong death bowling attack made the fans believe that this season is going to be RCB’s season.

Familiar problems resurfaced again as the team seemed to have got into the rhythm of putting good scores on board and conceding whatever they have scored quite easily. As soon as they were at a testing juncture in the game and everything went out of control. RCB have found it difficult to get going in the current edition of the IPL and need to be on their toes if they want to qualify for the knockout stages.

Excellent death bowling and fielding

On Tuesday, the Royal Challengers found themselves in a similar situation against the Mumbai Indians. The defending champions needed 62 in the last five overs in what was a season-defining fixture for both the teams. On a night where the pitch was turning and the wicket was getting slower the RCB bowlers used good change-ups to trouble the MI batsmen. Cutters and slower ones were used in abundance – sometimes even four consecutive deliveries in an over that made stroke-making incredibly tough.

“Yeah it [abundance of change ups] was discussed. First and foremost we went to our strongest skill set and that’s trying to swing the ball,” Tim Southee, RCB fast bowler said after the match.

The kiwi pacer was at his best at the start of the innings and came back to finish things in the death as well. He dismissed Ishan Kishan for another first ball duck while Umesh Yadav doubled the damage with the wickets of Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma off successive deliveries.

“There was a little bit of assistance there with the swing and we were able to take those early wickets. And once it stopped swinging, we adapted to that, to the cross seam deliveries which were holding [up on the] the surface and moving a little bit off the surface as well. So, I think we were reasonably smart as a bowling unit and we were able to assess the conditions,” Southee added.

With Washington Sundar going for plenty in his first over, Kohli turned to Colin de Grandhomme as his sixth bowler to bowl three overs. The medium pacer obliged and bowled a couple of economical overs to increase the required run rate. It was all down to RCB’s death bowling and surprisingly they had a great outing. With a handful of Yorkers combined with excellent fielding, RCB managed to beat the Mumbai to break the losing streak.

Though the team has a long way to go, they’ll be relieved to know that there is light at the end of the long and dreary tunnel.

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