Bowling at stake at IPL, but KKR-SRH-MI look most balanced

In a tournament that has fans flocking the grounds to see batters smash everything out of the park bowlers have gradually established themselves as the cornerstone of success and the upcoming edition of IPL is going to be no differentIf one looks at the bowling units of various IPL outfits defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders fivetime champions Mumbai Indians and last years runnersup Sunrisers Hyderabad have the most balanced lineupsWith allrounders rendered less useful due to the Impact Player Rule most teams now look at playing five specialist bowlers Some even have luxury of playing the sixth bowler if need be while defending a totalSo what makes KKR special in terms of bowlingIn Harshit Rana who has the uncanny ability of taking wickets with sheer pace and extra bounce they have a potent Indian fast bowling optionHe would be supported by Varun Chakravarthy who has been Indias T20 trump card in recent yearsAdd to that mix Anrich Nortjes blistering pace and Sunil Narines guile and 16 overs will be sorted for the side on most daysThe uncapped Vaibhav Arora was impressive last year and there is Andre Russell too who can always chip in with an over or two In all of KKRs seven home games at the Eden Gardens this attack cane be expected to be lethalIn addition Ramandeep Singh and vicecaptain Venkatesh Iyer can chip in with an over or two as per the teams requirementsIn case Nortje doesnt fire there is the sixfoot leftarmer Spencer Johnson On tracks like the one in Chennai Moeen Alis off breaks could also be handyBy the look of things KKR does have the best bowling attack on paperMumbai Indians have had a torrid last four years even But they have managed to retain their bowling core In skipper Hardik Pandya they have a proper bowler who can win matches with a sharp spell of fast bowlingBut MIs campaign will also depend on how the attack performs till Jasprit Bumrah joins them in AprilThe momentum shifts very quickly in IPL but a fitagain Deepak Chahar could be a handful with his incisive swing bowling during Powerplay oversHe will have support of Trent Boult who can bring the ball back into the righthanders at the start of the inningsMitchell Santner has mastered in the Indian conditions although MI would have fancied better quality of Indian spinners compared to lucky mascot for IPL teams Karn Sharma in their squadOnce Bumrah comes in the MI bowling will be too hot to handleFor Sunrisers Hyderabad the biggest challenge for bowlers is to counter the flatness of the Uppal trackBut in Pat Cummins and Mohammed Shami they have two smart operators who can assert themselves if the batting unit piles on the big scoresThe third Indian pacer could be a weak link but Harshal Patel despite a higher economy rate is a good death overs bowlerWhile they have a wrist spinner in Adam Zampa it would be difficult to include him in all conditions In this scenario Rahul Chahar and Abhishek Sharmas slow bowling would be handyTalking about multiple utility bowlers Ashish Nehras Gujarat Titans is also a fine unit with Worlds best T20 bowler Rashid Khan there to support Kagiso Rabada Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh KrishnaTo support Rashid in slow bowling Tamil Nadu captain R Sai Kishore and also Washington Sundar will have crucial roles to playFor Rajasthan Royals they have got a better spin attack with one among Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theeksana set to play Riyan Parags offbreaks are also handyBut its the pace department where Jofra Archer might need more support from Indian bowlersSandeep Sharma is good in specific conditions and young Railways man Ashok Sharma who recently clocked 146 kmph in U23 Irani Cup is man to watch out forDitto for CSK where save Matheesha Pathirana and R Ashwin others in bowling unit dont inspire much confidenceMukesh Chaudhary was good a few seasons back and Anshul Kamboj is not bad either but whether they can deliver consistently is the questionKhaleel Ahmed has been playing for nearly 10 years but no team has had faith in him in death overs where he has been profligate save the one odd season for Delhi CapitalsLucknow Super Giants had punted on Mayank Yadavs pace but it is still not clear when Indias fastest bowler will be availableThe batting has a lot of firepower but the overall bowling unit looks a bit short on experienceFor Delhi Capitals 12 overs out of 20 are taken care of by skipper Axar Patel Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav but inconsistency in T20 has been the Australians baneHowever T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumars variations will keep DC fans interested with two specialist death bowlers who can bowl those wide Yorkers which can make or break gamesWith PTI inputs