Data Shorts: Sunrisers' ace spin hitters dismantle RCB's spin web

Krunal Pandya returned figures of 1 for 38 © BCCI/IPL
More things have gone right than wrong for RCB this season, and as a result, they sit where they are in the points table now. While Virat Kohli and Josh Hazlewood sit at the top of the runs and wickets charts respectively, almost every part of their machinery has done their part to perfection. RCB don't boast of big ticket names in their spin attack, but they have been crucial in winning key phases of play more often than not.

Coming into Friday's game, only SRH's spin attack (11 wickets) had taken fewer wickets than the 20 managed by RCB spinners but their ER of 8.40 was the fourth best in the competition, and of the two of the attacks ahead of them, one boasted of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, and the other Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav. It was RCB's spin attack that turned games in their favour in Kolkata and Mullanpur after the home sides got off to dominating starts of 107/2 and 62/1.

After Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals were in the hunt to chase down steep targets, it was tight spells of defensive bowling by RCB's spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma that tilted the scales in RCB's favour. Among finger spinners, only Sai Kishore has taken more wickets than Krunal Pandya's 14, while Suyash's economy rate of 8.26 was bettered by Kuldeep (6.85), Varun (7.00), and Digvesh Rathi (8.19) among wrist spinners in IPL 2025 (ahead of SRH game).

RCB spinners in away games

Against Venue Overs Figures ER
KKR Eden Gardens 10 4/90 9.00
CSK Chepauk 10 2/86 8.60
MI Wankhede 8 4/77 9.62
RR Jaipur 9 1/76 8.44
PBKS Mullanpur 8 4/51 6.37
DC Kotla 8 1/50 6.25
In most of their away games, RCB spinners out-bowled their opposition counterparts in conditions that are largely not very conducive to spin by conventional standards. What made RCB's spin attack stand out was their higher air speeds, flatter trajectory, and denying batters room to free their hands and not letting them get under the ball. They needed to script another of those spells in the must-win game against SRH in Lucknow after SRH were 71/2 at the end of Powerplay on a track that provided little grip in early exchanges, and in Abhishek Sharma's words, one of the best pitches for batting out there in the season.

They were up against two good players of spin in Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan, who had just got their eye in. Suyash often errs on the shorter side but has a larger room for error than most because he is quicker and flatter. However, on this occasion, Klaasen, who likes to hang back to spinners, glanced the first misdirected one down the leg side for a four. The bowler overcompensated the next one fuller and was hit down the ground for a maximum. Krunal started off from the other end immediately after the timeout and conceded just five singles off his first over, but Kishan had a good look at him in the meantime.

SRH batters vs RCB spinners, Lucknow (Game #65)

Batter Krunal SR 4s/6s Suyash SR 4s/6s
I Kishan 26(14) 162.50 2/0 13(8) 162.50 2/0
H Klaasen 2(3) 185.71 2/1 14(5) 185.71 2/1
A Verma 8(4) 360.00 1/2 18(5) 360.00 1/2
Klaasen got one freebie down the leg side the next over which was dispatched for a four before mistiming a googly to long-on that turned just enough to hit the inside half of the bat rather than the middle. Aniket Verma walked in next and as so often he had done in the season against spin, he took down Suyash for 19 runs in his third over smashing three boundaries and hit his fourth boundary - a third maximum off his first eight balls - off Krunal's next to play a handy cameo of nine-ball 26. Kishan, bereft of runs after a century in the first game, was more watchful, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. He marked down his matchup in Krunal, taking him for 26 runs off 14 balls, targeting the longer leg side boundary.

In all, SRH batters scored 84 off the seven overs from Krunal and Suyash at 11.85/over - the worst RCB spinners have conceded in a game all season. As result, RCB were left to chase 232 as opposed to 175, 174, 158, and 163 in their four previous run chases, all of which they successfully romped home. They now face LSG in their last league game in a must-win situation and will come up against the likes of Pooran, Marsh, and Markram, who have been brilliant against spin all season. RCB spinners cannot afford to lower their guard again should they want two bites at the cherry in the Playoffs.