"Bowling short balls is my strength" - RCB pacer Akash Deep reflects on impressive effort against KKR

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Akash Deep admitted that bowling short balls is his strength. He added that he was confident of utilizing his skills against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Wednesday's IPL 2022 clash.

Akash Deep was one of the star performers for RCB with the ball, claiming three wickets for 45 runs. He hit the pitch hard and was rewarded with the scalps of Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana.

Although a similar ploy did not come off for him against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the same venue (DY Patil Stadium), the 25-year-old asserted that he was confident of executing his short-ball skills against KKR. Responding to a query from Sportskeeda, he said:

“Bowling short balls is my strength. In the first match, I was under pressure and, when I analyzed my bowling, I realized that I was not able to executive the deliveries properly. But it is my strength and I kept my faith in it. I have been doing the same for all these days, so I have belief in my strengths.”

Elaborating on his performance, the pacer opined that it was important to get early wickets with the new ball and expressed satisfaction at being able to perform the role for his IPL team. He added:

“There was some help from the wicket. I was following the other games and realized it was important to pick wickets with the new ball because the bowlers are getting assistance at the start. My target was thus to claim a couple of wickets with the new ball. So I stuck to my plan, got some help from the surface and was able to pick up wickets for my team.”

Apart from claiming two key wickets at the top, Akash Deep returned at the death to clean up Umesh Yadav (18) and end a frustrating last-wicket stand of 27.

Check out who is at the top of the IPL points table 2022 here.

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“Dinesh bhai is the best finisher in our team” - Akash Deep explains decision to hold back Karthik

Even as the chase got tense, RCB decided to hold back the experienced Dinesh Karthik for the death overs. Asked about the move, the Bangalore pacer admitted that it was a conscious decision. Explaining the move, he said:

“We knew that Dinesh bhai (Karthik) is the best finisher in our team, so it was better to hold him back. Yes, that was the plan. The game was moving along and we were going at a run-a-ball. We saved Karthik because we knew that even if we needed 20 in the last two overs, he could do it. And we were backing him for the same.”

Coming in to bat at No. 7, Karthik remained unbeaten on 14 off 7. He slammed a six and a four off Andre Russell in the last over to clinch the game for RCB.