A peek into RCB’s struggles against Mayank’s pace

PTI

Bengaluru, April 3

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s strategy against pacer Mayank Yadav was to use his extreme pace against him, and it is not an unfamiliar approach in top-flight cricket.

But even on a slightly gripping Chinnaswamy pitch, Mayank, who cranked it upwards of 150 km/h consistently and used angles wonderfully, upended RCB’s plans to walk away with impressive figures of 4-0-14-3.

Lucknow Super Giants won the match by a 28-run margin to go fourth on the table with four points.

Mahipal Lomror, who came in as an impact sub, was a distant spectator from the dug-out when Mayank unleashed his fury, but he was candid enough to explain RCB’s failure in detail.

“Honestly, our plan was simple… to use his (Mayank) space against him. It’s a small ground and the ball flies here. So, our overall plan was just to use his pace and not to go against it. But there were some mistakes which happened and I think we need to be very clear about what we’re going to do if someone is bowling every ball at 150 clicks. We need to be clear in our heads,” said Lomror, who has the experience of playing Mayank in local cricket.

A quick glance back at two match situations can validate the words of Lomror. Anuj Rawat attempted a couple of ramp shots but the left-hander saw the ball whizzing past his ribs and ears and Mayank’s 152 km/h thunderbolt carried far too much pace for Glenn Maxwell to impart timing to his pull, turning it into a wimpy top-edge to Nicholas Pooran.

It was Maxwell’s 16th duck in the IPL, and second in four matches this season.

But that was not the only time the RCB think tank’s — comprising captain Faf du Plessis, head coach Andy Flower — calculations went awry on the night.

For reasons known best to them, RCB benched Vijaykumar Vyshak, their best bowler against Kolkata Knight Riders with figures of 4-0-23-1.

The pacer used the knuckle balls and slower bouncers to good effect in that match to check the free-stroking KKR batters, and he could have been invaluable on a tacky deck against LSG.

As Quinton de Kock and later Nicholas Pooran waded into them with a mix of slices, cuts and pulls, RCB quickly ran out of bowling options. — PTI

Suryakumar almost fit, close to return

New Delhi: Mumbai Indians will soon get the much required batting boost as the world’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav has cleared almost all the fitness tests at National Cricket Academy and is very close to playing his first IPL game of the season. Suryakumar had undergone multiple surgeries — one for grade 2 ankle tear and another for sports hernia — and last played in the T20I series in South Africa. “Surya has cleared all but one routine tests which are mandatory to get RTP (return to play) certificate from the NCA. There is one more test left to be conducted on Thursday, after which a clearer picture would emerge,” a senior BCCI said. “He is batting comfortably and has done all simulations,” he added.

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