Two of the most expensive buys in this year’s Indian Premier League, Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson haven’t been able to perform well and former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson believes it has got something to do with their yorker bowling abilities.
Speaking at The Grade Cricketer Podcast, Watson, an IPL legend in himself said that young Australian pacers are unable to execute yorkers during the key moments of the game.
“The guys [fast bowlers] that have done well, have been able to execute their variations well. Executing the yorker under pressure is the most important thing,” said the 40-year-old.
"In my opinion, younger guys like Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson haven’t been able to. So when a batsman starts to tee off, they really can’t get themselves out of the pressure zone,” Watson added.
Both Richardson and Meredith have found themselves in the playing XI of three matches for Punjab Kings, all of which were held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, a batting-friendly wicket. In those three games, while Meredith has two wickets to his kitty, Richardson has three and both of them have been hugely expensive.
Talking about other fast bowlers such as Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins, who too have not had the kind of impact that was expected of them, Watson said it is mostly due to the wickets.
“The wickets at which the IPL is being played at this point in time in India is more batting friendly. Most of the foreign pacers have got speed and since the wickets are a little bit slower, they can’t just run up and destroy the batting lineup with their raw speed,” he said.