IPL 2025
‘My own personal philosophy is I don’t worry that much about R-L combinations’ © BCCI
One of the RCB net bowlers had to duck and dive for cover as Rajat Patidar sent a booming drive flying back to him. He swayed out just in time as the ball knocked over the tripod behind him that held one of the recording cameras. Over the course of 30-odd minutes on Friday afternoon, the RCB captain showed how well he’d recovered from his hand injury as the ball repeatedly flew off his bat. The eight-day break plunged the league and the teams into chaotic uncertainty, but proved to be a good break for players like Patidar, as RCB’s director of cricket Mo Bobat revealed.
Patidar’s injured hand healed well during the down time, setting him up for an immediate return as RCB resume their chase for playoffs qualification and potentially an advantageous top-two finish. This break in play also let Phil Salt recover from his illness, who joined his captain in sending throw downs deep into the leg side stands on Friday. They even faced a net bowler simulating Varun CV’s action and mystery spin. The practice nets were also graced by Tim David and Romario Shepherd, taking turns in 10-ball bursts to access different corners of the ground.
With all that transpired over the last week, RCB have emerged with the rub of the green on their side on most counts as every overseas player – barring Josh Hazlewood – has rejoined the group. But with all this availability and a recent injury exit – of Devdutt Padikkal – RCB enter the crucial phase of the season with a potential selection pain point.
Should Salt reclaim his opener’s spot from Jacob Bethell, RCB will end up with a top-five full of right-handers, even with the addition of Mayank Agarawal – Padikkal’s replacement. With skewed square boundary lengths to manipulate and bowling plans to thwart, not having a left-hander can feel like under-equipping a batting order, but Bobat begs to differ.
“Yeah, my own personal philosophy is I don’t worry that much about right-hand-left-hand combinations. I know different teams do that differently,” Bobat said on Friday. “I actually think that since we’ve had the impact player rule and every team has six or seven bowlers, it almost doesn’t matter if you’ve got [a] right-hand-left-hand [pair], they just change the bowling combination. So I think in an 11 versus 11 line-up, sometimes having that left-hander in your back order can mean that you can put one of their bowlers under pressure. I see that less as a thing now.”
Different teams deal with this aspect of the game in their own way. Data analysts, now stationed in every franchise, will provide ample evidence of why it is a bad idea to bowl, for instance, a left-arm spinner to a marauding left-handed batter, for he could bowl into his hitting arc. It comes down to how far the strategists in teams – captain, coach and the leadership group – buy into it. Delhi Capitals for example, swore by it in the early season game against Lucknow Super Giants. Axar Patel chose to not bowl himself out despite going for just 18 runs in three overs, as the left-handed Nicholas Pooran took strike. He chose to punt with the part-time right-arm off spin of Tristan Stubbs, which ended badly in a 28-run over.
“We’ve seen so many times during this competition that a certain bowler hasn’t bowled their overs because there was a left-hander in the crease, and they just got too far. So I don’t focus on that too much. We’re quite clear on our patterns of play and the things that we want to focus on,” Bobat opined.
That said, a whole world of tinkering has been opened up for RCB with the absence of Josh Hazlewood, who continues his recovery in Australia. RCB could go with Lungi Ngidi – who didn’t train on Friday – or Nuwan Thushara, the Sri Lankan pacer waiting in the wings, or pack the top-order with an additional overseas option and pick another Indian bowler instead.
“We’ve obviously got [Nuwan] Tushara in the squad, an international bowler chomping at the bit. Understandably, probably frustrated that he can’t get on the field, but I think, when you’re going well, these things happen. Also, Rasikh Dar, a good bowler. So, we’ve got options in the squad, so certainly no concerns,” Bobat said.
The possible inclusion of Dar gives RCB the tactical flexibility to sneak in a left-hander – Bethell – at the top. RCB invested heavily to secure the services of Dar (6 Cr), who picked nine wickets in eight fixtures for DC last season and was impressively skiddy and brave at the death. Given the slight wiggle room RCB have with respect to qualification even though they haven’t sealed it yet, they could consider giving him a go for a game.
“Over the next few days, we’ll think about potential replacements as well. There’s a bit of clamour for that at the minute and lots of teams are doing that. I prefer not to push these things, so we’ll just take our time and have a think about it. We’ve got enough quality in the changing room already,” Bobat said.
© Cricbuzz
