A stern test awaits spin king Rajat Patidar in RCB's do-or-die clash against CSK

Rajat Patidar's superior expertise against spin has come as the perfect complement to a side laced with world-class pace-hitters.
 By Darpan Jain Updated: May 17, 2024, 09:13 IST
Rajat Patidar RCB vs CSK playoff?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4
When Rajat Patidar failed to get going in the initial few games, RCB were in tatters, especially after the field restrictions were lifted.

IPL is a funny tournament. RCB are funnier. Indeed, their resurgence in the second half has been comical in a way, given their despondent performances in the first eight matches.

RCB have won five in a row to keep their hopes alive and remain in contention for the playoffs till their final league stage game. Suddenly, the whole squad is firing in tandem, and RCB have risen to sixth after reeling at the bottom for the good first half.

Virat Kohli has obviously been the chief architect in the comeback, leading the way, as always. However, the player enabling him to do his thing is RCB’s star boy, Rajat Patidar. Patidar's superior expertise against spin has come as the perfect complement to a side laced with world-class pace-hitters.

Sure, Virat Kohli’s spin game is at its best in the previous five years, but his boundary-hitting consistency is still far from ideal. After a rapid start in the powerplay against SRH, RCB lost Will Jacks in the seventh over to spin, and Virat Kohli wasn’t as fluent with his boundary-hitting abilities. Rajat gauged the situation quickly and hit Shahbaz Ahmed for a boundary off his second delivery in the innings.

No one was stopping him from there on. After hitting a maximum in Mayank Markande’s following over, Patidar whacked four more in his third over to lay a foundation for big hitters to follow. He departed after a 20-ball fifty, with 80% of runs coming off spinners.

Delhi Capitals (DC) have the best spin duo in the competition, and Patidar had his task cut out. He came in a tricky situation when RCB had just lost Kohli but couldn’t afford to slow down. Patidar unleashed his best spin game, hitting a six each in Axar and Kuldeep’s over.

He struck at 200 against the two finest spinners in white-ball cricket, compared to his strike rate of 133.33 against pace. Before DC could pull things back, Patidar had done his job. He has hit five fifties in his last seven outings, and his spin game has been noticeable in each of them.

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He is so efficient at picking lengths that spinners can’t bowl to him at all. One of the sixes he hit to Axar Patel in the previous match was off a length delivery. It wasn’t as short, but Patidar seemed to have picked it even before Axar released it and sat on the back foot to muscle over midwicket.

Even his along-the-ground shots are filled with so much power that fielders have no chance to cut them. One such stroke came off Suyash Sharma, who attempted a fuller-length delivery with a flatter trajectory. Patidar thwacked it to the right of the long-on, who couldn’t cover only a few yards due to the speed of the ball.

Lucknow Super Giants’ defeat over Delhi Capitals eased the equation for RCB, who will most likely go through if they win against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While RCB will play at home, defeating CSK, who also need a victory, won’t be an easy task. They have two quality spinners - Ravindra Jadeja, who is bowling the best he has ever bowled in white-ball cricket, and Maheesh Theekshana, a spin wizard with a fine season.

Jadeja has eight scalps at 33 balls apiece, conceding only 7.47 in IPL 2024. Maheesh Theekshana might have only two wickets, but he has bowled brilliantly to check the flow of runs. His frugal economy rate of 7.43 dictates how hard he has been to attack in four innings this season.

Chennai Super Kings’ spinners have the third-best economy rate (7.55) in the middle overs this season. Maheesh Theekshana concedes only 6.90 runs per over in this phase, the second-most economical spinner with a minimum of ten overs. Ravindra Jadeja’s 7.46 economy is also more than decent.

The duo have bowled some terrific spells, especially Jadeja, against quality batters this IPL season. They can put breaks on the scoring rate if RCB, scoring 10.05 runs per over, get a brisk start again. It will increase the role of Rajat Patidar in this crunch game.

Among all the batters to face at least 50 deliveries against spinners, Patidar has the second-best strike rate (224.69) and hit the joint-most maximums (20) in IPL 2024. In the middle overs, a phase where RCB have lagged perenially, Patidar has the best strike rate (230.13) against tweakers.

Will Jacks, who has also handled spin well and has been vital in RCB’s miraculous turnaround in the second half, has left the RCB camp. Jacks was another aggressor against spin for RCB, striking at 153.42 and hitting a boundary every 5.21 deliveries. His absence will bring in Glenn Maxwell, who plays spin better than Jacks.

While Maxwell is a terrific spin-hitter, his recent form is at an all-time low, and the team had to drop him owing to consistent failures, which also opened doors for Jacks. The Aussie batter has only accumulated 36 runs at an abysmal average of 5.14 in seven innings, hitting only five boundaries this season. He should have ideally partnered with Patidar to take on spinners in the middle overs.

But he failed miserably and made RCB more prone to spin since Patidar was the only option. Even he was struggling to get going then. Fortunately, Jacks excelled at No.3, and Patidar regained his touch just in time to cover the vulnerability.

When Rajat Patidar failed to get going in the initial few games, RCB were in tatters, especially after the field restrictions were lifted. In RCB’s first five matches, when Patidar scored only 50 runs in four outings, their batters had the second-worst strike rate (127.93), taking 8.22 deliveries for every boundary, against slow bowlers. Since the sixth game, when Patidar finally got going, that strike rate has surged to 173.74, the second-best, finding the fence every 4.36 balls.

26.82% of those boundaries have been hit by Patidar alone at a marvellous 2.95 balls apiece. Since the sixth game, 78.98% of Patidar’s runs have come in fours and sixes. Further, he has played only 20% dot balls.

Spinners have the third-worst economy rate (9.65) in Bengaluru this season, so Jadeja and Theekshana will also have to be at their best. Jadeja showed his superior defensive skillsets against Heinrich Klaasen earlier in the season. He bowled wider lines and immaculate lengths to prevent Klaasen from getting under the pitch of the ball.

Similarly, Theekshana bowled an economical spell against SRH in the first meeting, albeit in a losing cause. He restricted Travis Head beautifully and forced him to make errors, leading to his dismissal. His spell against Rajasthan Royals was also top-class, with Theekshana bowling straighter lines on the fuller side and darted his yorkers on the right spot to shackle the batters, who tried their best to break free.

This RCB vs CSK has the makings of a classic. A lot of mini-battles will dictate things. But how Rajat Patidar tackles spin will have a major say in deciding which team goes through the next stage.

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