Bowling groups have to be detailed in IPL, says Franklin

Sunrisers Hyderabad assistant coach James Franklin said bowling groups should have deep understanding of batters’ aggressive scoring methods in the IPL, leveraging his argument around Pat Cummins preying on Punjab Kings’ opener Priyansh Arya’s penchant for the pull shot.

SRH skipper Cummins bluffed Arya with a bouncer outside the off-stump, knowing the latter’s preference to play the pull instead of an upper cut.

Arya fell for the trap, pulling Cummins into the hands of Eshan Malinga at deep square leg.

“Obviously Pat Cummins and (head coach) Dan (Vettori) are very detailed and I think you have to be detailed nowadays because of how powerful batting units are, particularly top threes, top fours of all the IPL teams and particularly in the power plays,” Franklin said in the post-match press conference.

Cummins’ spell of two for 34 had a big role in SRH’s 33-run win over PBKS in their IPL match here on Wednesday night. Franklin said the SRH bowling unit’s pre-match feedback helped them devise plans for the marauding Punjab batters, who have been excellent in the chase so far in this IPL.

“I think sometimes you don’t necessarily have to bowl the ball that the field is expecting and I think we saw the ball before that he bowled a pretty good bounce on the same sort of line and he obviously called the bluff a little bit, executed the same sort of delivery and created the opportunity. “So, you know, where the strengths and weaknesses are of the opposition batters, obviously all our bowlers are well across it. So, that was the feedback that our bowling group got and obviously we used it a lot throughout Punjab innings,” he added.

The former New Zealand all-rounder praised pacer Malinga for producing some fine spells, particularly at the death overs.

“I think he actually bowled pretty well for us at the back end of the competition and I think you roll forward another year he’s had that experience of playing an IPL before. He feels part of it now so he’s obviously come into this year’s IPL and got performances early and obviously that gives you confidence as a player.