IPL 2020: MI bowling coach Shane Bond feels early wickets key to stop KXIP juggernaut

Bond showed faith in his bowlers to stop the Rahul-Mayank run machine of KXIP.

The defending champions of IPL, Mumbai Indians (MI) didn’t have a good start to their IPL 2020 campaign, losing to CSK in the opening match. They came back with a good win over KKR but then lost a super over encounter against RCB.

Now as they face big-hitting Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their next encounter on October 1, Mumbai Indians bowling coach Shane Bond on Wednesday, said that early wickets will be the key to victory against the opposition.

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Kings XI openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are having a gala time with the bat, having scored a century each in IPL 13 and are the leading the run-scorers tally with 222 and 221 runs respectively.

“KL Rahul has got runs against us in the last few games and he is a brilliant player. We are having our bowlers’ meeting this afternoon, in terms of our planning for our opponents who are playing well. KL is a dynamic player, who scores all around the field,” the former Kiwi pacer said.

“We also know that he (Rahul) takes his time generally through the middle overs, so that’s perhaps an opportunity to create some pressure on him and the batsmen around him. We will have specific ideas about how we can get him out. In the end, we can’t allow him (Rahul) to score in the areas he is very, very strong. He scores well over extra-cover, picks up over fine-leg,” he added.

The former New Zealand pacer showed immense trust in his bowling attack and said that their bowlers are capable of stopping the KXIP batting juggernaut.

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“We have got a quality bowling unit, we just have to put pressure on them. Mind you, the two key batters for Kings XI Punjab played brilliantly so far. If we can create some pressure and get those boys out early, and put some little bit more pressure on that middle-order early, we can restrict them to a score, stop them from scoring (big) runs,” he said.

“We are reasonably confident with our batting line-up. They have put up good runs on the board so far and we are a tough batting order to stop. We have played on this ground twice and so we sort of know what to expect with the conditions, so that should help us a bit,” he further added about the playing conditions.

(PTI inputs)