Mumbai Indians bowling coach Zaheer Khan played down concerns over Rahul Chahar’s form, saying the team is happy with the way the leg-spinner is bowling in the UAE leg of IPL 2021. Zaheer conceded that Chahar is going through a tough period and that he will overcome that phase to be back among the wickets sooner than later.
Rahul Chahar is one of the Mumbai Indians players whose form has nosedived after selection to India’s T20 World Cup squad. While the likes of Ishan Kishan and Suuryakumar Yadav have been struggling for form with the bat, Rahul has picked up only 1 wicket in 3 matches in the UAE after a fine outing in the first leg of IPL 2021.
In India, Rahul had picked up 11 wickets from just 7 matches and did well in India’s tour of Sri Lanka as well. The young leg-spinner picked up 7 wickets in 3 T20Is following which he earned a place in the T20 World Cup squad.
The spotlight is on Rahul Chahar as he was picked ahead of senior leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for the T20 World Cup. On Sunday, Chahal played an instrumental role in helping RCB hammer MI by 54 runs as he picked up 3 wickets, including the big scalps of Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan.
“If you are just equating it to the number of wickets, you can say that (his form a concern for MI). But I am pretty happy with the way he is bowling. The ball coming out of his hand is absolutely fine. it’s just that in the situation of the game, you are not in that position, you can look at it that way,” Zaheer Khan told the press on Sunday.
“In terms of confidence, he is right up there. I don’t see any issues around that. It’s just about having a few tough games, when things are going tough, at times, you don’t have the rhythm going.
“We have not been able to get ourselves going. We have to play 40 good overs of cricket. We have been playing well in patches, but not really able to sustain it.”
Mumbai lacking trademark aggression: Zaheer
Meanwhile, Zaheer conceded that Mumbai Indians have not been playing with the aggression that they are known for in the UAE leg of IPL 2021.
The hammering to RCb was Mumbai’s 3rd defeat in UAE on the trot as the defending champions are looking less likely to make it to the play-offs. MI are at the 7th spot on the 8-team table with 8 points from 10 matches and need to win all their remaining matches to stand a chance of making it to the play-offs.
“We don’t have a lot of time now. We have to really get things going fast. It’s going to be must-win games for us coming up. Very important that the team sticks together. That hunger and determination are going to be important.
“We have got to believe. This team has done that in the past and there is no reason to believe we can’t.
“But the way MI has known in terms of dominating cricket and that aggressive nature of playing cricket, so far we have not seen,” Zaheer added.
Mumbai Indians will look to end their losing streak when they take on Punjab Kings on Tuesday.
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