CSK Vs MI Vs RCB - Which Team Has The Best Bowling Attack For IPL 2024?

image-lrq815npBumrah (L) & Jadeja (X.com)

As the excitement rolls on ahead of the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), we at 'OneCricket' have decided to take a dive into the strategic side of things and explore the bowling attacks of the league's three most popular franchises - Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). 

Over the years, the passionate fanbase enjoyed by these three teams has led to discussions and debates on which of the three possesses greater depth and resources. One way to assert the real quality of a T20 side is to examine the depth of its bowling attack. So we compare today the bowling units of MI, CSK, and RCB and try to come up with the best attack amongst the famed trio.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)

Bowling is not CSK's stronger suit, but they've smartly packed their side with all-round options to try and give themselves the chance to counter multiple opposition match-ups without needing any of their specialist men to consistently deliver four overs. 

It's a strategy that has worked under MS Dhoni's astute leadership and the knack of extracting the maximum out of CSK's bowling resources. Still, there would be heavy dependence on the youthful Sri Lankan pairing of Maheesha Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana.

While Theekshana has taken his 23 wickets at 7.77 runs an over, Pathirana has delivered his overs at 7.96 and bagged 21 wickets over the last two editions of the IPL for CSK. If they dominate the wickets column, it will help CSK ease Indian enforcer Shardul Thakur and young left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary into their respective roles in the first-choice attack.

Thakur returns to CSK colours with 89 scalps taken at an expensive 9.16 an over. Choudhary missed IPL 2023 but was one of the rare positives of a disappointing IPL 2022 for the five-time champions, with 16 wickets at an ER of 9.32. Despite its raw talent, it's a bowling unit that is vulnerable to being taken for plenty on flat batting surfaces, and we will give it a rating of 6 out of 10.

Mumbai Indians (MI)

Mumbai tried to resolve some of their bowling troubles ahead of the IPL 2024 by bringing back premier allrounder Hardik Pandya following his two-year absence. Pandya's return bolsters MI's all-round strength and bowling options as well as the balance, despite the departure of Cameron Green and Jofra Archer after just one season.

Pandya's comeback plus the recruitment of South African speedster Gerald Coetzee and his Australian counterpart Jason Behrendorff in an attack led by the indomitable Jasprit Bumrah have suddenly infused life into their pace unit and given it a robust muscle for all stages of an innings.

While Pandya and Behrendorff can be incisive with their ability to swing the new ball during the powerplay field-restriction phase, Coetzee, MI, now boasts a potential middle-overs enforcer as well. They've certainly eased the life of their all-phase banker Bumrah, who might have an extra over reserved for the death.

If things don't fall according to plan, they also have the luxury of West Indies utility cricketer Romario Shepherd to chip in overs and counter specific match-ups. The depth in the spin department is lacking, but wrist-spinner Piyush Chawla remains one of the best tweakers in IPL history and will be holding the key at his end.

Overall, it's a significantly better first-choice attack than the one MI had in the last two editions of the marquee T20 league, and one that we believe deserves a rating of 9 out of 10.


Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)

After shockingly releasing the key overseas pairing of Josh Hazlewood and Wanindu Hasaranga, RCB were expected to do a much better job reconstructing their bowling attack at the IPL 2024 mini-auction held in Dubai. The franchise failed to plug a longstanding hole in their arsenal and didn't inspire great confidence about their renewed attack. 

RCB rest heavily on the shoulders of young Indian seamer Mohammed Siraj, who is now the most experienced pacer in the attack with 78 wickets at 8.54 an over in his 79-game IPL career. Siraj had an inspiring IPL 2023 for his franchise as he bagged 19 scalps from his 14 matches at an ER of 7.52. 

His presence will be key for his expected first-choice pace partner, Alzarri Joseph, and RCB's traded allrounder Cameron Green. Both the former MI cricketers will now ply their trade for the Bangalore franchise. The Caribbean speedster Joseph has been expensive in the IPL, conceding 9.19 runs an over from his 19 games with 20 wickets, while his Aussie counterpart had a mixed bag of an initiation. Green plundered an impressive 452 runs with the bat but took only six wickets at 9.50 an over in the IPL 2023. 

The rest of the bowling attack will be made up of inexperienced pacer Vyshak Vijay Kumar and unstable wrist-spinner Karn Sharma. Kumar was belted for an economy rate of 10.54, while Karn hammered for 10.37 runs an over during IPL 2023. Lack of experience, stability, and control makes this perhaps one of the weakest attacks of the coming IPL, which compels us to give RCB a rating of 4.5 out of 10. 

After digging into the options and respective strengths, we at OneCricket conclude that MI boasts a bowling attack of decisively greater quality and depth than CSK and RCB. Their pace attack is way superior, and even though their spin bank doesn't match up to that of CSK, the overall unit puts their arch-rivals to shame.