Bowling coach wants team to remain best in death overs
CHENNAI: The acquisition of pacers Shardul Thakur and Mustafizur Rahman has added sting to the Chennai Super Kings bowling attack ahead of the Indian Premier League. The reigning champions’ bowling coach Dwayne Bravo feels the current bowling roster has got stronger when compared to last season.
“We have our baby Lasith Malinga in (Matheesha) Pathirana.Mukesh (Choudhary) is back, and so is Deepak (Chahar). Also, it’s good to have Shardul back in the team. And Fizz (Mustafizur) is also there. So, this squad is very good. We have a lot of depth. These guys add to what we had last year, and we have a better attack now. I’m excited to work with them along with Eric (Simons), the other bowling coach,” said Bravo at the inauguration ceremony of Avira Diamonds’ store in Chennai on Thursday.
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At the beginning of last season, death overs bowling was a major worry for CSK. But Bravo, who was regarded as a ‘death overs’ specialist during his playing days, combined with Simons to turn the CSK pace pack into a potent one. The fact that Pathirana joined the squad after the first couple of weeks also played a big role. “In the auction, I didn’t have any input. But now my job starts, and I take part in the specific death bowling role because that’s my speciality.

In T20s, that’s a very important segment of the game and it requires a lot of skill, bravery and planning. So, you have to implement it in practice and get these guys to believe in a philosophy and work towards it. Last season, we were the best death bowling team and so, we look forward to repeating again this season,” said the 40-year-old, who landed in Chennai on Thursday morning to join the CSK camp.
CSK, five-time title winners, will head into the upcoming IPL season as one of the favourites. And Bravo, who has been a vital part of the CSK’s set-up for a long period both as a player and a coach, is bullish about the team’s chances.
“Our chances are very good. But at the same time, we can’t go into the tournament thinking we are favourites, and that we are going to win. We’ve to prepare well as a team, which we always do. We also have really good players. Captain Cool (MS Dhoni) is there, so we have a very good chance of defending our trophy, but it is not going to be easy,” said the West Indian.
Speaking about Dhoni, who is likely to make his ‘last dance’ this year, Bravo said: “His leadership speaks for himself, and you know we enjoy every moment playing under his leadership. He is always looking fit, I like his new hairstyle, it’s cool.”