Give bowlers chance to bowl dot balls: Fleming

MUMBAI: While incredible knocks by big-hitters Yusuf Pathan and Corey Anderson thrilled the fans no end last weekend, and would have done much to lift the TRP of the IPL, there is a slight concern there. The bowlers, in this mayhem from marauding batsmen, have been reduced to a sideshow. Some of them have taken the beating of their lives, and may just be contemplating another profession now! Spare a though for the likes of Rajasthan Royals seamers James Faulkner and Dhawal Kulkarni, who ended up giving away 96 runs in 40 balls as the Mumbai Indians went hammer and tongs to gallop to 195 in 14.4 overs on Sunday.After Pathan’s assault on the Sunrisers, the world’s fast and best bowler Dale Steyn had mentioned in his column for TOI about how it wasn’t pleasant to go for more than 20 runs an over frequently.
Former New Zealand skipper and currently Chennai Super Kings’ coach Stephen Fleming believes it may just be about time to give the bowler some cover, rather than reduce him to a ‘punching bag’ of the batsman.’ “It isn’t good for the health of the bowlers. There are pretty narrow channels for the bowlers to bowl into. Maybe, we should give them more leeway. Batsmen are moving across and around the crease so much that it makes it difficult to contain them. You would say the Kolkata game was a bit of an anomaly, the way Yusuf batted. To see it two times in a row was pretty scary, see what players can do when they show no fear. Each team is wondering how far to push the boundary, how many runs you can give,” Fleming said ahead of his team’s Eliminator clash against the Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium, on Sunday night.
“The wickets are getting better and better, the grounds are getting smaller and smaller, the bats getting bigger. Maybe, it is time to give bowlers more opportunity for bowling dot balls,” the Kiwi felt. Last year, a fuming India skipper MS Dhoni had remarked during the high-scoring ODI series against Australia at home that the bowlers should perhaps be replaced by bowling machines now. With fours and sixes being critical to winning the fans’ attention, the curators have been told to prepare featherbeds for the IPL leg in India, which means the batsmen have made merry big time.
Fleming, though, believes the bowlers need to step up to meet the challenge. “The bowlers’ skill levels have to rise. It's not easy for the bowlers, but there are opportunities too. Yorkers could have done the trick but pressure comes when you are attacked,” he felt. A classic example is Faulkner being hammered for a couple of sixes in the all-important last over against MI on Sunday while attempting yorkers. In case of Yusuf’s assault, the KKR fielders made it tougher for the bowlers by dropping the batsman twice.
“There is such a fine line between going for a six or getting a batsman to mishit it. On another given day those catches could have been taken and KKR would have dismissed a lot cheaper,” Fleming said.
Talking about the clash with MI on Wednesday, Fleming made it clear that his team expects nothing less than a cliffhanger tonight. “Mumbai were excellent against us last year. We had some revenge this year with two wins, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s a home game for MI. We have to play extremely well. We had a great tussle with them at Wankhede and this is not going to be any different tomorrow,” Fleming said on match-eve. The coach is wary of his compatriot Anderson spoiling his team’s chances in the eliminator. “Brendon McCullum (New Zealand skipper and CSK opener) was happy to see him play that way in the last game and hopefully not the next game. He was happy with the Corey show. Certainly, he was excellent the other night,” Fleming praised.