Former New Zealand fast bowler and Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling coach Shane Bond expects his bowlers to make a comeback after three consecutive losses in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022.
Despite the three consecutive losses including a massive loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Bond believes that there isn't much wrong with their bowlers and backed them to come good against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on April 9.
It's a simple fix really. If we can stick to our plans and stick to the areas we want to bowl when the pressure is on, then I think you'll see a turnaround," Bond said in a note shared by MI on April 8.
While Pat Cummins' joint-fastest IPL fifty took MI by surprise, Bond feels that their bowlers executed their plans against Andre Russell. Also, they did not let KKR opener Venkatesh Iyer score freely.
“As I said, I think we've seen that when we've executed our plans the way that we wanted to, we've been really successful. We saw it in the last game against Andre Russell," he said.
"Venkatesh Iyer, we made him work really hard for a fifty and bowled really well to him. We've just had one player who's come out in each game and hit 30-plus off sort of 10-11 balls which has taken the game away from us,” he added.
The 46-year-old said that one big over is taking the game away from the five-time IPL champions. Against KKR, it was the 35-run over bowled by Daniel Sams that ended the game in the 16th over itself.
"It's been a real mixed bag from us I suppose from a bowling unit. You look at the last game; the first ten overs were fantastic. We had a couple of overs that got away from us.
"It's been a little bit of a pattern for us, that we've done some really good stuff, we've taken out a number of the big players exactly how we thought we would – but when the game's been in the balance, we've gone for some overs of 20-plus. And when you go for overs of 20-plus, then you end up losing matches," the former Kiwi speedster added.
MI are currently placed ninth on the points table, just above Kane Williamson-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
