IPL 2020: Need to Put KL Rahul Under Pressure, says MI Bowling Coach Shane Bond

Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond said on Wednesday that his team’s target in the next Indian Premier League (IPL) match will be Kings XI Punjab’s captain KL Rahul, who has the ability to score runs around the ground. Kings XI Punjab openers Rahul and Mayank Agarwal have performed brilliantly in the current IPL, who have scored 222 and 221 runs respectively, each with a century and a half-century.

“Need to Put KL Rahul under Pressure”: Shane Bond

Bond understood the importance of stopping both these openers in the match between the two teams on Thursday and said that wicket-taking at the start would be crucial to the success of the defending champions’ team.

“KL Rahul has got runs against us in the last few games and he is a brilliant player. We are having our bowlers’ meeting this afternoon, in terms of our planning for our opponents who are playing well. KL is a dynamic player, who scores all around the field,” said former New Zealand fast bowler.

Further, he said that they know that Rahul takes time through the middle overs, so they will try to put some pressure on him in between that. They will restrict him in the areas Rahul seems strong.

“We also know that he (Rahul) takes his time generally through the middle overs, so that’s perhaps an opportunity to create some pressure on him and the batsmen around him. We will have specific ideas about how we can get him out. In the end, we can’t allow him (Rahul) to score in the areas he is very, very strong. He scores well over extra-cover, picks up over fine-leg.”

“We’ve got a quality bowling”: Shane Bond

Bond said the bowling unit of Mumbai Indians has the ability to demolish the batting department of Kings XI Punjab.

“We have got a quality bowling unit, we just have to put pressure on them. Mind you, the two key batters for Kings XI Punjab played brilliantly so far.

“If we can create some pressure and get those boys out early, and put some little bit more pressure on that middle-order early, we can restrict them to a score, stop them from scoring (big) runs,” he said.

Bond said that MI have already played two out of their three matches here so far, so they better know the condition of the ground.

“We are reasonably confident with our batting line-up. They have put up good runs on the board so far and we are a tough batting order to stop. We have played on this ground twice and so we sort of know what to expect with the conditions, so that should help us a bit,” he added.