IPL 2022 | Rajasthan Royals have a fantastic pace attack, opines Lasith Malinga
Rajasthan Royals newly-appointed bowling coach Lasith Malinga has praised the teamâs bowling unit saying they have a fantastic pace attack. He further added that it works best for bowlers when they work on their strengths and bowl according to it instead of focusing on oppositionsâ weaknesses.
The new season of the IPL will begin on March 26 with the season opener between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. The teams are also strengthening their coaching staff ahead of the tournament. Rajasthan Royals have appointed Lasith Malinga as the bowling coach of the team. The team have a good pace bowling attack to their aid.
Trent Boult, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Prasidh Krishna, and Navdeep Saini can be their frontline bowlers. Also, Boult and Prasidh combination looks very good. Ahead of the upcoming season, Malinga has praised the Royals pace bowling attack saying it is fantastic, and also added that the best thing for bowlers to do is to bowl according to their own strengths instead of analyzing the weakness of the opposition batters.Â
"I think we have a fantastic pace attack. You've got experienced overseas players like Boult and Coulter-Nile, with whom I've worked before. Then we've got genuine Indian fast bowlers in Prasidh and Saini, who have proven themselves at the highest level, and some new faces in Anunay Singh, Kuldeep Sen and Kuldip Yadav. In T20 cricket, I think little margins really matter, and I'm here to guide them to deliver their best in all situations," Malinga stated, reported India Today.
"I think most of the times teams focus on analyzing the opposition and looking at their weaknesses. But in my experience, I think what works best is when you work on your strengths and bowl according to them. In T20, you only have to bowl 24 balls, which works in our favour, but it's also important to trust your instincts as to which variations can work in which situations."
Sharing his experience of working with the Rajasthan Royals, Malinga revealed that he is enjoying his role with the team so far.Â
"It is certainly a new thing for me to get into coaching and pass on my experience to the younger players. I have played this role before with Mumbai, and now I'm delighted to be working with Rajasthan Royals. It is a new place for me, but I'm enjoying my role so far working with such a talented group of bowlers,â he said.
"The first thing that always stayed with me was the colour - pink. I always saw the team have good international and local players, and whenever I used to face them, it was tough. I think they were always very competitive, and could beat any team on their day."
Malinga has been associated for 13 seasons for Mumbai Indians. He also played a key role in their title-winning campaigns with his majestic yorkers and pace variations. Malinga joining RR was a shocking move for cricket fans considering his cordial relationship with the franchise. The toe-crushing yorker expert revealed how the move came about.Â
"It was actually last year that Kumar (Sangakkara) asked me if I was interested. But with COVID and all the bubble restrictions, I didn't want to stay away from my family. But this year, having also worked with the Sri Lankan team, I felt I could use my experience and give back to the game that I love, by working with this group of players," he revealed.
Malinga also added that his role in the team will be to improve the thinking pattern of bowlers and help them understand the game situations in a better way.Â
âOn the field, you only have a right-hander and a left-hander to prepare against, so when a bowler trains, it's important to just train according to that - to think there are just two batters - it doesn't matter what the name of the batsman is. I think every team is equally strong and everyone in the team is equally valued. But the most crucial thing is how we understand the game and the situations within a game. So, what I want to get out of our bowlers is to improve their thinking pattern, and help them understand the situations better," he explained.