IPL 2020: Predicting the death bowlers of each team

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League is two months away. Because the ICC T20 World Cup will take place in October this year, it makes this IPL season even more important as the world's best come to play in India for two months.

In the T20 format, the game has always been about the last few overs of an innings, to be precise, over 16 to 20, as the performance of a team during that phase can potentially define a match. Whether it's bowling, batting or fielding, if teams bring their 'A' game to the fore during the death overs, they can take the game away from the opposition.

In this piece, we are going to take a look at every team's bowling department and pick out each team's best pair that might bowl in the death overs. The stronger a team's bowling department is, the greater are their chances of going all the way into the tournament. So, without further ado, let's get straight into it.

#8 Rajasthan Royals - Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes

Bowling Options: Oshane Thomas, Ankit Rajpoot, Varun Aaron, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Tom Curran, Andrew Tye, Kartik Tyagi, Mayank Markande, Shreyas Gopal, Rahul Tewatia, Anirudha Joshi

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have an English pair of World Cup winners in Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes as their best bet in the death overs. Archer has been RR's best bowler for quite some time now and although Stokes hasn't been at his best in the IPL, he can certainly be banked upon after his tremendous performances throughout the year in all formats of the game.

Also see – ICC Women’s T20 world cup winners list

Stokes and Archer were brilliant last season and they didn't even play the whole tournament because they had to leave early to prepare for the World Cup. Archer, in the 11 matches that he played, bowled at an economy rate of just 6.76 and he ranked 10th in the most number of dot balls bowled, with 121, a great number for someone who constantly bowls in the powerplay and at the death. Stokes, on the other hand, wasn't that economical last season but among the other options available, he had the best economy rate after Archer, at 10.5.

Jaydev Unadkat can also be used as a death bowler but last season, Stokes was used at the death more and Unadkat had one of his worst seasons last year. So, expect two English internationals to bowl in the death overs for RR.

#7 Royal Challengers Bangalore - Navdeep Saini and Chris Morris

Navdeep Saini has emerged as a proper talent

Bowling Options: Isuru Udana, Umesh Yadav, Kane Richardson, Dale Steyn, Mohammed Siraj, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Pawan Negi, Washington Sundar

One can see clearly why RCB have one of the weakest death bowling department in the league. On one hand, there's the inexperienced Navdeep Saini who had an average year last season and on the other hand, there's Chris Morris who has seen his career decline in 2019.

RCB will definitely have doubts over both Saini and Morris's ability to bowl at the death but these two are the only ones who seem capable of bowling at that stage of the innings. Despite their bad stats from last season, it seems, RCB don't really have better options at the death, which just tells you how weak they are in that area. Unless anyone drastically improves, the Bangalore franchise don't have a recognised option going into IPL 2020.

The likes of Dale Steyn and Umesh Yadav are potent with the new ball and one expects Virat Kohli to use them that way, but we could see them turn up to bowl the death if the initial plan with Saini and Morris fails.

Note: All statistics as of February 1, 2020

#6 Kolkata Knight Riders - Pat Cummins and Sunil Narine

Pat Cummins improves the KKR side massively

Other Options: Andre Russell, Chris Green, Kuldeep Yadav, Pravin Tambe, Varun Chakravarthy, M Siddharth, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Warrier, Harvey Gurney, Lockie Ferguson

Last season, KKR was one of the worst teams as far as death bowling was concerned and hence, going into the IPL 2020 auctions, head coach Brendon McCullum biggest priority was to improve his bowling attack and to some extent, they did that.

The Kolkata franchise signed Pat Cummins for a whopping ₹15.5 crores and it seems, the Australian fast bowler will be KKR's first choice during the death overs as he has been for Australia. The 26-year-old is one of the best in the world in all formats of the game and KKR will most definitely be banking on him to deliver.

Sunil Narine, on the other hand, has been KKR's heartthrob for a long time and he will most definitely be used as the death bowler, again. KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik, over the past two years, has used Narine both in the powerplay and at the death. Last season, the West Indian had an economy rate of just 7.82, along with that, he ranked 18th in 2019 with 96 dot balls.

Despite having two good T20 bowlers to use at the death, KKR still need to find someone who is potent with the new ball, as unless that happens, the bowling unit will hugely be dependent on these two.

#5 Delhi Capitals - Kagiso Rabada and Chris Woakes

Kagiso Rabada will have some support next season

Other Options: Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Marcus Stoinis, Keemo Paul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Sandeep Lamichhane, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan, Mohit Sharma, Tushar Deshpande

Delhi Capitals (DC) had a great season last year as for the first time in a long time, they reached the play-offs and heading into IPL 2020, they have considerably improved their squad.

Last season, at the death, Kagiso Rabada was DC's go-to man but the addition of Chris Woakes will definitely add some much-needed quality. Rabada had an economy rate of just 7.82 and along with that, he ranked 14th in terms of most dot balls bowled last season with 113.

Chris Woakes, on the other hand, is someone who is capable of bowling both in the powerplay and at the death and he could ably support Rabada this year. Not only that, Woakes adds depth to DC's batting department and because of him, Shreyas Iyer, the DC skipper, will have the flexibility to bowl out the four overs of Ishant Sharma in the powerplay itself.

Woakes gives this DC side a lot of options and that is something head coach Ricky Pointing would love to have.

Also see: IPL 2019 Dot Balls Statistics

#4 Kings XI Punjab - Sheldon Cottrell and Mohammed Shami

Other Options: Chris Jordan, James Neesham, Krishnappa Gowtham, Murugan Ashwin, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Jagadeesh Suchith, Ravi Bishnoi, Tajinder Dhillon, Harpreet Brar, Hardus Viljoen, Arshadeep Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Ishan Porel

KXIP were one of the busiest teams in the IPL 2020 auctions and they signed Sheldon Cottrell for a whopping ₹8.5 crores. The West Indian seamer is a T20 specialist and there's no doubt that he will play from the very first game.

Cottrell adds quality to the KXIP bowling set-up and he will most definitely be bowling at the most crucial stages of an innings. In the international set-up, Cottrell has a career T20 economy rate of 7.9 and a strike rate of 15, which indicates that he not only contains the opposition but also takes regular wickets.

Partnering him will be India's best bowler in 2019 - Mohammed Shami. The 29-year-old has improved his skills massively over the past couple of months and he seems to be nailing his yorkers at will, along with the addition of other variations to his armoury. There are no stats needed to prove Shami's credentials as a brilliant death bowler, as we have seen him deliver almost every game for India.

Alongside Cottrell, Shami can prove to be a real handful as both of them offer something different. While Shami is known for his seam position, Cottrell is a skilled operator, who is known for his variations. This duo may surprise many next season.

#3 Sunrisers Hyderabad - Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rashid Khan

Other Options: Mitchell Marsh, Mohammad Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Shahbaz Nadeem, Billy Stanlake, Siddharth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, T. Natarajan, Basil Thampi, Sandeep Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) have always been a well-oiled bowling machine and going into IPL 2020, it is their bowling department that looks the strongest. Although Bhuvneshwar Kumar hasn't had the best of years in 2019, he surely is someone who knows how to bounce back. The veteran seamer had an economy rate of 7.8 last season and he ranked 3rd with 168 dot balls on the most dot balls bowled list.

Then, to partner him during the death overs, Rashid Khan might come to the fore as he has done over the past couple of years. The Afghanistan sensation is someone who is very difficult to pick and he has dislogded many wickets during the latter stages when batsmen like to go after the bowling.

The youngster had an economy rate of just 6.28, which was the best by anyone last season and along with that, Khan bowled 166 dot balls, which was fourth most by anyone in IPL 2019.

SRH have an experienced death bowling contingent who know each other's strengths and hence expect them to have a good showing this year.

#2 Chennai Super Kings - Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar

Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo celebrating

Other Options: Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Lungi Ngidi, KM Asif, Josh Hazlewood, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Karn Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Sai Kishore.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will most probably have the same death bowling combination that they used last season. Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar might be the combination MS Dhoni goes with again as CSK do not seem to have any other options besides them.

Bravo is someone who has been bowling at the death for quite some time now and although he wasn't that good last season, his experience and quality will be important for CSK. Last season, Bravo bowled at an economy rate 8, which is not bad for someone who bowls only at the death. But, the West Indian can do more and he will be looking to improve this year .

Chahar, on the other hand, started bowling at the death only last season and he seemingly improved with every game. His economy rate was just 7.67 last season and he bowled the most dot balls with 190. The Indian international used a lot of slower balls last season, along with the knuckleball and if he manages to add yorkers to his locker, then India might have another brilliant death bowler in their ranks.

Bravo and Chahar might not be the flashiest duo running around but they can certainly do a job.

#1 Mumbai Indians - Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga

Other Options: Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Prince Balwant Rai Singh, Rahul Chahar, Jayant Yadav, Ankul Roy, Trent Boult, Mitchell McClenaghan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Mohsin Khan, Digvijay Deshmukh

Mumbai Indians (MI) on paper, have the best death bowling duo in the league. Jasprit Bumrah and Lasith Malinga are two bowlers who have always stepped up in dire times for MI and they have been Rohit Sharma's go-to options almost every season.

Bumrah, right now, is the best death bowler in the world and having him with Malinga is a dream come true for any team. Both of them last season spearheaded MI's attack and they were pivotal in their championship win. Bumrah had an economy rate of 6.63 and he bowled the second most dot balls last season, with 169. MI have a game-changer in Bumrah and he can and has won his team many matches on the back of his incredible performances.

Malinga, on the other hand, wasn't at his best last season and yet, his economy rate was 9.76, which is not particularly bad, is it? The Sri Lankan has set some high standards for himself in the last couple of years and he will certainly get better this year.

Now that MI have signed Trent Boult, Sharma not only has a world-class death bowlings attack, he also has an incredible new ball bowler. Boult can easily bowl his first four overs with the new ball, which could then allow him to use Bumrah and Malinga at the death. It's a brilliant combination to have, to say the least.