Brian Lara wants RCB to rest Mohammed Siraj for a couple of games so that he can get back to form.
Legendary West Indies cricketer Brian Lara believes Royal Challengers Bengaluru should think about resting Mohammed Siraj for at least a couple of games to allow his body and mind to refresh. One of India’s premier fast bowlers, Siraj, has been horribly out of sorts in IPL 2024 so far. And RCB are bearing the brunt for that as they are heavily dependent on the right-arm pacer’s new-ball strikes.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj(ANI)
Siraj has picked up only 4 wickets in 6 matches this season and has leaked runs at 10.41 runs per over. This is in complete contrast to what Siraj had done last year where he picked up 19 wickets in 14 matches at an economy rate of 7.52. He was lethal with the new ball, providing early wickets but this year he has not been at his best.
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“He should be given rest for a couple of reasons. He should think about what has been happening in the team. He is the same Siraj that we have seen taking wickets with the new ball whether it’s in Test cricket, one day cricket or even this format in T20. He has been a champion bowler for Team India, and even for RCB he has done well. But I feel he’s not doing what he is required to do, he requires rest, not only mentally but physically as well because he has been playing a lot of cricket,” Lara said on Star Sports.
“He’s played 4 tests against England, before that whatever series India was playing he has already been a part of the team. And he bowls a lot of overs. He looks a bit tired physically and mentally. And with this kind of hammering, it’s difficult for any bowler to wake up the next day and feel alright. I also went through these situations where I got hammered by different batters, you have to give yourself a bit of time to relax, think about your game, work hard in the nets, work on your game and come back stronger like we have seen Siraj and I’m sure he’ll come back stronger.”
RCB’s bowling unit has been in the firing line in the 17th edition of the tournament. So much so that captain Faf du Plessis said the batters would need to aim for 220 to be competitive. RCB lost their last match to Mumbai Indians despite putting 198 runs on the board. MI made a mockery of the target by chasing it down in just 15.3 overs.
RCB batters need to score 20-30% extra runs
Lara agreed with du Plessis and said the onus will be on the captain, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, and Dinesh Karthik to give that extra cushion to their bowlers.
“They’ve got to understand that with the bowling attack that they’ve got, they have to try and hit 20 or 30% more runs because it’s just not enough. So they need to break their innings together and say we need to get so much in the powerplay, middle overs and the death, but nobody is getting into batting form, nobody is getting into bowling form as well, and it’s a team that is just not in the top 6 or 7 in this tournament. They have to improve so much, to really be a factor, to sort of challenge the teams. Just like KKR have got a good bowling attack. So it’s good to see the batters getting runs but they need an injection of good bowlers and positive thinking in that squad.”
Lara said there is no shortage of talent in RCB’s bowling line-up but they haven’t quite been able to get their act together.
“They’ve not been able to get it right at all, they are not bad bowlers. You look at Topley, you look at Siraj, they are international bowlers and I believe that something is wrong, they are not getting their game plan properly, they are not bowling in areas that the batters are weak in. I think they are just running in and bowling sort of into the pitch or up to the bat, not thinking of the weakness of the players. When bowling to Ishan Kishan you’ve got to get the ball to nip back into him and not give him any room. It’s just so free for all.”
