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Cricket Players'He took wickets, had purple cap on his head': Aakash Chopra credits young bowler for turning RCB's fortunes in IPL 2021
RCB had a decent season in 2020, but they failed to reach the final in the UAE, finishing in 4th position. But with the form that the Virat Kohli-led franchise was in this season, many predicted it could be their year, before the tournament was suspended.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes the reason for Royal Challengers Bangalore's fortunes in IPL 2021 was because of their improvement in the death overs with the ball. RCB got off to a fantastic start in the Indian Premier League 2021 season, stacking up five wins in seven games to reach at the third position in the table.
RCB had a decent season in 2020, but they failed to reach the final in the UAE, finishing in 4th position. But with the form that the Virat Kohli-led franchise was in this season, many predicted it could be their year, before the tournament was suspended.
Speaking in a video on his Youtube channel, Chopra said: "The big change that has been seen happening - in 2019 they were getting hit a lot in the death overs, in 2020 that graph started going lower and in 2021 it went further down. That means while you were conceding 12-13 runs per over till 2019, now you have gone under 10, that too when Harshal Patel bowled two very expensive overs. That means you are doing a lot of things right.
He further went on to credit Harshal Patel as the reason behind RCB's improvement in the death overs.
"The single most reason for the change was Harshal Patel. He took the wickets and had the Purple Cap on his head. When he took five wickets in the first match against Mumbai, the change started to happen, they got the belief that they can do it," Chopra added.
"How well Mohammed Siraj is bowling. He bowled one over to Andre Russell, continuous wide yorkers, he did not bowl a single ball that could be hit for a six. Shahbaz Ahmed came in the middle, he bowled an odd over where he took a couple of wickets. The performances were coming together quite nicely in the bowling department," he signed off.
