Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond has said that their leg-spinner Rahul Chahar is the leading wicket-taking bowler in the team.
The 21-year-old leg spinner picked up 4 wickets by giving just 27 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders.
“Rahul’s (Chahar) a wicket-taking bowler. You make him bowl those balls that are too good. His role is to come into the middle and spin the ball and create some pressure and take wickets. That is the role we look to make him do,” said Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond while answering questions from the media.
Mumbai Indians, are fully equipped with high quality fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter Nile but they lack the option in spin.
Krunal Pandya is no doubt one of the best all-rounder in the IPL but as a bowler he has to do a lot to prove himself.
“He is doing extremely well. If you look at Rahul he is still an incredibly young man, who has played fair bit of cricket and high pressure cricket in finals and has been a key member of our team. In terms of our team, he has a long way to go. The beauty about Rahul is that when we sit down and do analysis, he is a good listener,” said Bond.
Bond added MI’s strength is their bowling unit performing collectively.
“We are a collective bowling unit. The key to winning championships is a strong bowling attack and I think we have had five international bowlers playing in Mumbai Indians bowling line-up for a long time,” added Bond who also praised Krunal Pandya.
“If you look at our success years, the key was on those top-order wickets. But for our spinners to do a containing and wicket-taking job in the middle which is what Krunal [proves] with his stats [that he has done]. Playing at the Wankhede (in previous seasons) and going under seven and over is an incredible job for us,” added Bond.