Lockie Ferguson set to miss remainder of IPL, confirms Punjab bowling coach James Hopes

With their bowling unit conceding more than 200 runs in four matches out of the five matches they have played, Punjab Kings have seen the pace attack struggle in this edition of the IPL. The Shreyas Kings side, which was on top of the point table after the opening week in IPL, have slid to the sixth spot after two losses in their last three matches. With the side facing an eight-wicket wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last match, Punjab Kings fast bowling coach James Hope believes that the team needs to find a way to get more spin in their bowling attack.
“Of course it’s a concern, but once again, we tend not to look at, like, he’s going at 9.5, he’s going at 10, because we’re playing games where 200 is a score, or 220 is a score, or 240 is a score. If we keep playing games where 230 is a score, our guys keep going to 10 and over, well, we’re going to win most games. So that’s how we tend to look at it. And I think I answered the question before, we need to get Yuzi (Yuzvendra Chahal) into the tournament a little bit. Like, he’s being used in a lot of different roles at a lot of different times at the moment, and we’re very pace-heavy at the moment. I think we need to find a way to get more spin into our bowling attack, and hopefully we see that over the next few games,” Hopes said on the eve of the team’s home match against Kolkata Knight Riders.
While Punjab Kings pace spearhead Lockie Ferguson suffered an injury in their last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and is not expected to play further till the end of the tournament, Punjab Kings have seen all their bowlers outside the top 20 bowlers in terms of the bowling economy. The Shreyas Iyer side have tried seven bowlers in this year’s IPL so far with Ferguson having the best economy of 9.7 and picking up five wickets in five matches. Arshdeep Singh has picked up seven wickets with an economy of 9.50 in the five matches with only Glen Maxwell being the other bowler to have an economy below ten.
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Hopes talked of the need to have an economy of below ten but also lauded some of the bowlers for their economy in high scoring matches this season. In the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, where the Hyderabad side chased the target of 246 runs in 18.3 overs, only Arshdeep had an economy of less than ten with Ferguson and Marcus Stoinis bowling two balls and four balls in the match. “On such a pitch, if you conceded less than ten runs an over, you’re a genius. So the confidence we take from that is, someone like Arshdeep bowled unbelievably in the last game. I think he bowled four overs for 37 and on that venue, for the fast bowlers in that game, that was outstanding. So we’ve got a lot of confidence with that. We’re going to have to bring someone in for Lockie, so we’re going to have to change our bowling attack slightly. We are in a good spot in the competition where we’ve got a big week coming up against the same two opposition, KKR and RCB. That’s just the way the draws work for us. We’ve got them for the next four games. So if we can have a good week, we’re going to be well-placed going into the back half,” said Hopes.
The former Aussie bowler has also been impressed with Singh, who has so far taken 83 wickets in 70 matches in IPL in his career. The left-arm pacer had also become India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is earlier this year. “Arshdeep is a world-class bowler. His economy rate at the depth, he’s keeping in check, in comparison to what the game requires. He is a very, very good flat wicket bowler, which is what we need right now. And I’m excited for the day where he gets something with just a little bit of seam movement in it. We saw it in Lucknow. We saw the damage that he can do up top. Just get a couple more wickets like that for him, he’d be nice,” added the coach.