RCB won their last league game but did they miss a trick by not bowling Washington in the Powerplay and by giving Umesh more death overs?
Deivarayan Muthu04-May-2019The sample size is fairly small for Rashid Khan – he has played only three seasons in the IPL, but this has been his most underwhelming season yet in terms of wickets. He took 15 wickets in 14 matches this season and only twice he took more than one wicket. Despite that, he maintained an economy rate of 6.46.Shimron Hetmyer gets the better of Rashid Khan•ESPNcricinfo LtdIn isolation, though, Rashid was expensive against Royal Challengers, conceding 44 runs in four overs; it was the second time this season that he conceded more than 40 runs. Shimron Hetmyer was particularly brutal on Rashid, smashing him for 32 off 15 balls. Only Chris Gayle, Manan Vohra and AB de Villiers have hit more runs off Rashid in a T20 game.Mohammad Nabi, Sunrisers’ other spin option, had started the season strongly with the ball, but has tapered off in the end, adding to Sunrisers’ troubles, particularly in the middle overs.Did RCB miss a trick with Washington Sundar?Washington Sundar celebrates a wicket•BCCIOffspinner Washington Sundar burst into the spotlight during Rising Pune Supergiant’s run to the IPL final in 2017, when he had an economy rate of 6.55 in Powerplays – the joint second-best among spinners who had bowled at least 50 balls in that phase. He was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 3.2 crore in the next season, and since the start of IPL 2018, Washington has played 10 matches for Royal Challengers, bowling only 42 balls in the Powerplay, conceding 86 runs off them.The easy-paced hit-through-the-line Chinnaswamy pitch hasn’t been kind to him either, so his captain Virat Kohli has been using him in the middle overs as opposed to the Powerplay, where Washington himself prefers bowling.In his previous match, against Delhi Capitals, Washington was taken for back-to-back boundaries when he took the new ball. But he redeemed himself with his constricting lines and lengths in the middle overs.On Saturday, Washington came on to bowl when Sunrisers Hyderabad were 59 for 1 after seven overs. He struck with his second ball – a non-turning offbreak – to have Martin Guptill chip a catch to midwicket. Three balls later, he got rid of Manish Pandey with a 101kph dart. Washington’s Tamil Nadu team-mate Vijay Shankar then launched him for a brace of leg-side boundaries, but then the spinner went around the wicket, shifted his line wider and had the batsman holing out.Washington had just recovered from an ankle injury ahead of the IPL and didn’t quite pose similar wicket-taking threat in his first two matches this IPL, but have Royal Challengers missed a trick by not giving him more game-time?Umesh at the death again? Are you kidding me?
Worst performers with the ball at the death in IPL 2019•ESPNcricinfo LtdUmesh Yadav’s errant lines and lengths nearly cost Royal Challengers their match against Chennai Super Kings in Bengaluru. And unlike last year, he hasn’t been effective in the Powerplay either. He still got a game because Royal Challengers don’t have enough depth in their squad. Still, he could have been managed better.Instead of asking Umesh to bowl the last over, Kohli could have used him much earlier and given Navdeep Saini or Kulwant Khejroliya the responsibility of closing out the innings. They both get the ball to skid off the pitch and hit the bat harder. But, here Umesh went too full against Kane Williamson and with both mid-on and mid-off up, it was right up the Sunrisers captain’s alley.Williamson isn’t a power-hitter, but is a master of chipping or lifting the ball over the infield. He hoisted the first two balls over mid-off for six and four, and then smoked an offcutter over the square-leg boundary. Umesh went for the yorker again, but it came out as a full toss, and there would be just one result: Williamson lofting it for four. All told, Umesh has an economy rate of 14.37 at the death – the worst among bowlers who have bowled at least 50 balls between overs 17 and 20 this season.This wasn’t Royal Challengers’ only questionable bowling tactic on Saturday. Washington had returned 3 for 24 in his three overs, but he didn’t finish his quota. Colin de Grandhomme, who is more a middle-order power-hitter than a reliable seamer, got one over which ended up costing 12 runs.
