IPL 2020: KXIP vs RR Game Plan 1 – Bowling Tactics for the Royals
KXIP vs RR– The fiftieth match of the IPL 2020 tournament between the blockbuster teams, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals, could all be about match-ups. We take a look at a key game plan that could play a role in the fiftieth game of IPL 2020 – KXIP vs RR.
KXIP vs RR Game Plan – Powerplay Spin, Middle Overs Pace?
Kings XI Punjab are on the path of revival. From 1 win in 7 games at the halfway stage, they have raced along and won all of their next five matches to remain in contention for the playoffs. It’s no coincidence that their purple patch came since Chris Gayle’s entry to the side.
The presence of Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran, two hard-hitting left-handers, in the middle order has really thrown a wrench in the bowling team’s plans. For almost all teams, there is a wrist-spinner and a finger-spinner who bowl a majority of their overs in the middle-overs. Two left-handers who demolish spin even in the middle overs will make it hard to bowl spin in this phase.
Rajasthan Royals, who have played two leggies in all their matches so far, will find it tougher to contain this Caribbean duo because their spinners turn it into the left-hander’s hitting arc. The best strategy for RR is to bowl more of their spinners in the Powerplay itself, so as to avoid mad overs in the middle phase.
Cover the Spin Quota in the Powerplay
KL Rahul is one of the best T20 players in the world at the moment. There are hardly any flaws in his limited-overs technique and he can play shots all around he ground. Considering all this, it’s surprising that he is the slowest scoring right-handed batsman against legbreak this tournament.
What leg-spinners have done right against Rahul is to keep pitching the ball on a good length, and use variations and change the speeds from there. The RR management can think of bowling 3-4 overs of their leggies in the Powerplay itself, as both KL Rahul plays a false shot to 29% of good-length deliveries from legbreak bowlers this year.
All-out Pace in the Middle Overs
Powerplay spin gives RR two advantages – (1) Their premier opener and the current Orange Cap holder slows down against spin and (2) It frees up overs of pace which can be used in the middle overs for the southpaws.
Both Nicholas Pooran and Chris Gayle have scored pretty quickly against spin and pace alike. Albeit, they still have their struggles against high-end pace, and the Royals have one of the best quicks in the world in Jofra Archer.
Against deliveries which clock upwards of 140 kph, both Gayle and Pooran score considerably slower. In fact there is a drop of around 2.4 runs an over in Pooran’s scoring rate against 140-plus deliveries compared to 121-139 range, while for Gayle the drop is even more significant – 3.34 RPO.
Jofra Archer leads the list of most deliveries over 140 clicks. He has bowled close to 32 overs of express pace this season, while Kartik Tyagi as well has bowled around 50 such deliveries. Ben Stokes is another such bowler who can crank up the pace when required. The plan for RR should be to rotate these three in the middle overs and test the West-Indies T20 stars with quick shoulder-height bouncers and then they can slip in a surprise yorker.
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