NEW DELHI: West Indian cricket legend
Brian Lara
and former England captain Kevin Pietersen offered insightful analysis after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 20 runs in their IPL encounter.
Lara pointed out MI's bowling deficiencies, beyond the formidable Jasprit Bumrah. He emphasized the lack of support for Bumrah, stating, "Their bowling is poor. Beyond
Jasprit Bumrah
, there is no one to actually support them in that bowling attack, and the CSK batters took them apart."
The batting maestro highlighted MI's reluctance to utilize spinners against
Shivam Dube
and emphasized the need for MI to strengthen their bowling lineup.
He emphasized, "The spinners, they only bowled 4 overs after around 7 runs an over, but they weren't trusted with Shivam Dube out there. So, MI will have to improve in that area, they've got to find a couple of bowlers, match-winning bowlers."
Meanwhile, Pietersen lauded Sri Lankan pacer
Matheesha Pathirana
's exceptional performance, describing him as "very unorthodox." Drawing comparisons with legendary bowler Lasith Malinga, Pietersen added, "It was something that Malinga had as well, it was reverse, but it wasn't reverse in, it was reverse down, and that's always going away from the angle of where you're trying to hit the ball."
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Pietersen emphasized the challenge posed by Pathirana's deliveries, noting, "When you've got a bowler that's coming at an angle, but it's not coming on at a natural angle, it's coming on at an angle that actually starts to dip on you, then you can't actually play the sweep, you can't play the ramp, because it's going to get under your bat, and then it also makes it really hard to hit down the ground. It's a gem for CSK, what a bowler."
(Inputs from PTI)
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