Allan Donald is relieved that Royal Challengers Bangalore’s bowling unit has finally worked out a way to contain rival batsmen, helping resurrect the side’s IPL campaign.
“We’ve found a way now to be defensive in our bowling,” Donald, RCB bowling coach, said here on Friday. “We’ve really battled as a bowling attack. We’ve had no Mitchell Starc, no guy bowling at 150kmph. We’ve had to find a way, collectively, of being defensive rather than blasting people out. We’ve now realised how we can bowl. It’s a little bit boring, but we’ve stuck to that. It also helps when your batsmen score 200 plus. We’ve searched long and hard for that confidence and we’ve finally got that.”
Donald admitted that RCB’s bowling group had originally lacked a leader, but was pleased that Shane Watson had stepped into the breach.
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“[Our bowlers lacked a leader] without a question. You’re always looking at the bowling group and thinking, ‘That guy’s not here’. Now, Shane Watson has been that guy. He’s not a 150kmph bowler, but he’s a clever, smart operator and he’s shown us how simple it can be. We had created this monster. We panicked too early. Shane is now showing us the way,” he said.
RCB lost five of its first seven games before winning five of the next six. The team is (as of Friday) a win away from confirming its spot in the play-offs.
“We always believed that it was possible,” Donald said. “When you go on a losing streak like that, a lot of things creep into your head... [doubts] about the quality of the side and why we can't put it together. You’re never out of the IPL and you’re never in it. But you’ve got to scrap to find a way to get back into it. And that’s what we’ve done. The plus for us is Chris Gayle is back with a bang. We’ve missed the white ball sailing over the fence for a long time. And Virat Kohli — he’s on another planet. I've never seen batting at that skill level.”
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Donald was full of praise for S. Arvind, one of only two RCB bowlers to average under eight runs an over this season.
“He knows this ground better than anybody,” he said. “Arvind’s got no real pace but he’s got intelligence. He brings us that extra bit we’re looking for in the PowerPlay. He brings unpredictability as well. It just shows you don't have to bowl at 150kmph if you can be smart.”