Bowlers facing the heat on high scoring pitches, says Sunrisers bowling coach James Franklin

Franklin says bowlers need to to be a little bit creative, try and cast some sort of doubt into the opposition batters to oversome the challenge

Hyderabad: “I think early on in this year’s IPL we’ve seen huge scores already, and it’s certainly making it challenging for bowling units on trying to answer the questions that I guess batting units are now really posing towards bowling units” says James Franklin, pace bowling coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad on the eve of the IPL match against Lucknow Super Giants here on Wednesday.

“We obviously know that this ground is very, very high scoring, and we also know that obviously the way that our batters play, that opposition batting units are obviously going to come incredibly hard at our bowlers,” Franklin said.

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“So, we talk about what we can potentially do to be a little bit creative, try and cast some sort of doubt into the opposition batters, that then will hopefully create some half opportunities that we can capitalise on as a fielding group,” he said.

“A lot of pressure in some ways is actually on batting units, because they now feel that they have to create these huge strike rates and they have to score significantly large totals, 200, 220 plus. So we try to use that as an advantage psychologically as a bowling unit, and almost have some fun with that,” Franklin said.

On Simarjeet Singh, Franklin said that the bowler has some natural pace, obviously moves the ball through the air, and has slower ball variations, and that is an attractive skill set for a fast bowler.

“LSG has an incredibly powerful and dangerous batting unit. And, we’re obviously getting a couple of guys that are coming in off some significant innings in that significant partnership. So they’re going to be seeing the ball pretty well,” Franklin said.