Former India player Aakash Chopra feels that the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will need to strengthen their bowling in IPL 2023 as it could be tough for them when they play at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. They already had a decent bowling combination before the mini-auction in Kochi on Friday, December 23. They included Reece Topley, who has enjoyed great success for England this year as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “You need six bowling options. That is one thing that can trouble this team slightly. They might play Mahipal Lomror because of that or expect bowling from Glenn Maxwell. The Chinnaswamy ground is absolutely unforgiving. It takes the life of good bowlers, so it won’t allow part-timers to even pitch the ball.”
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He continued: “They have regularly qualified for the playoffs for the last few years but an important aspect in that is they were not playing at home but away, whether it was Abu Dhabi and Dubai, or grounds in Maharashtra. They did well there, the bowling was never put under so much pressure.”
However, the Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for the playoffs in the last three editions of the IPL. However, they did not play a single game on the Chinnaswamy track across those three years. And, the veteran feels RCB will have to field Topley ahead of David Willey in their playing XI at home if Josh Hazlewood is not there.
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“Josh Hazlewood is not available for the first few games. I don’t think David Willey will work at the Chinnaswamy ground. So if Josh Hazlewood is not there, you will see Reece Topley playing, and Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel will make it your three fast bowlers. After that, you have Wanindu Hasaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed but you will have to play one more bowler because you are not sure whether Shahbaz can bowl all his overs considering the ground. We have seen in the Lanka Premier League that even Wanindu concedes 50 in 4 if you go after him,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
