BENGALURU: As RCB’s hapless bowlers struggled against KKR’s fury last week, their homegrown medium pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar stood up to the onslaught with a disciplined performance. It almost felt like the 27-year-old, who returned 1/23 in four overs, was bowling on a different pitch.
On Tuesday, when RCB host a resurgent Lucknow Super Giants, they will need their wayward bowling lineup to take a cue from Vyshak, who came up with variations, mixing yorkers with hardlength deliveries and bouncers.
Going by RCB’s bowling effort against KKR, they have a lot of work to do. Given their limited spin options, Faf du Plessis and Co. have gone pace heavy but that isn’t working. One of the biggest liabilities has been West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph, who could make way for left-arm pacer Reece Topley. Lead pacer Siraj has two wickets in three outings and that hardly inspires confidence.
Lucknow have their own share of woes. They are sweating over the fitness of regular captain KL Rahul. Rahul, who suffered a quadriceps injury after the first Test against England earlier this year, is being eased back into the game. On Monday, he was seen going through a fitness test.