Defending champions Mumbai Indians return to action when they face Kings XI Punjab on October 1 (Thursday) at Dubai International Stadium. Ahead of the tie, Mumbai bowling coach Shane Bond has warned his bowlers and said that they need to put pressure on in-form batsmen – KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal.

Mumbai were luck on the other day to go down against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Super Over. Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard almost pulled off the string but a brilliant over from Navdeep Saini in the Super Over helped Bangalore secure their second win.

Need to put pressure on Rahul and Agarwal – Shane Bond

Meanwhile, the bowlers will be under pressure against the likes of Rahul and Agarwal when they play Punjab. Speaking about their plan against KL Rahul, Shane Bond said that they will like to use the opportunity that he takes time to settle in.

“KL Rahul has got runs against us in the past, he is a brilliant player. Look we know he is a dynamic player and he scores all through the ground. We also know that he takes his time during the middle overs.

Also Read – IPL 2020: Match 13 – Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab, Fantasy Tips & Predicted XI

So it will be an opportunity for us to create pressure on him if he gets that far in his innings against us. In the end, we cannot allow him to score runs he is strong at,” Shane Bond said. 

Furthermore, Shane Bond stated that they are still trying to adapt to the conditions and put out their best game. Meanwhile, there has been a popular perception that bowlers have made limited use of yorkers considering that it the main weapon; Bond chose to disagree.

“I think yorker is just one of the many balls that a fast bowler has in their armoury, if you look at the pitches we have played on, the square boundaries have been really long so you could argue that the length ball is harder to hit for a six if the wicket has slowed down.

It is a tough ball to hit under pressure if you fail in execution you could be hit for a six,” he described.