Wounded RCB look for turnaround

Rain threat looms as Royal Challengers take on Pune Supergiants today

It’s almost become clichéd now to talk about Royal Challengers Bangalore’s bowling woes. In the absence of three key bowlers through injuries, they have struggled to get their combination right, and no target appears tall enough for them to defend.

The Royal Challengers have used as many as 12 bowlers in seven matches and only Shane Watson has been a constant in all these matches. Chris Jordan, the replacement for the injured Mitchell Starc, will most probably be the 22nd player to appear for the beleaguered Bengaluru side which takes on fellow strugglers Rising Pune Supergiants in their IPL-9 return match here at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.

Both teams can’t afford to lose any match from this stage onwards and the possibility of rain is the last thing they want to hear. It rained cats and dogs in the City on Friday evening, disrupting Royal Challengers’ practice for the second day in a row and leaving several puddles on the turf. And with scattered thunder storms predicted for the next three days, there is a question mark over the match.

Jordan, the English all-rounder who comes with a reputation as a good death bowler, is likely to replace South African import Tabraiz Shamsi. The defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match would have particularly hurt skipper Kohli who helplessly watched Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan steal victory right under his nose. Despite six bowling options, Royal Challengers couldn’t stop the Russell-Pathan combo from plundering 96 runs in 44 balls. Adding to their misery is their slow over-rate in the last two matches that has seen Kohli cough up Rs 36 lakh in fine and a third such offence will result in his suspension for a match.

Jordan comes into the side with a lot of expectations from both team management and fans alike. While his bowling is his obvious plus point, he brings in a lot of energy in the field with his athleticism and can use the long handle to good effect in the lower order. That said, batting is the least of problems for the hosts, who are just one place above bottom huggers Kings XI Punjab in the eight-team league.

Orange Cap holder Virat Kohli has led from the front while AB de Villiers has provided urgency to the innings. Chris Gayle is yet to fire while the consistency showed by KL Rahul, who has three successive half-centuries now, has been encouraging. His wicket-keeping was a bit untidy against Kolkata and him swapping the big gloves with de Villiers wouldn’t be a bad idea. Stuart Binny proved what he can do with both bat and ball if shown some confidence.

Sachin Baby’s inclusion at the cost of Sarfaraz Khan may have come as a surprise but the Kerala batsman hasn’t done any harm to his cause with some brisk runs, and his ability to cover the ground swiftly in the deep is a definite advantage over the Mumbai lad. A suspected hamstring injury to Adam Milne has rendered the paceman hors de combat and it’s learnt that the RCB have written a letter to IPL event technical committee, seeking a replacement for the Kiwi bowler.

Supergiants’ situation isn’t any better than RCB though they have one win more having played two more matches. Ravaged by injuries to key players, they have failed to get any sort of momentum. And other than Sunrisers Hyderabad, Supergiants are the only side not to have overhauled RCB’s target. The win against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday night, however, would have given MS Dhoni’s men the much-needed relief and confidence against a home team that desperately seeks two points.