FIRST TIME WE HAVE GUYS OF REAL PACE, SAYS DONALD

Two months ago during the IPL- 8 auction, the Royal Challengers Bangalore came prepared with a sure- fire strategy: to beef up their bowling resources. Focusing on a battery of pacemen, RCB roped in the super quick Mitchell Starc, the dangerous Adam Milne besides bringing in Sean Abbott, David Weise and Darren Sammy. Pencil in the Indians — Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda and Sandeep Warrier and it’s enough firepower to set a bowling coach tingling.

White Lightning, as Allan Donald used to be known during his playing days, and into his second term as RCB’s bowling chief, is super excited at the array of pacemen at his disposal and believes the team has the potential to go all the way in the eighth edition set to begin next Wednesday.

Donald, 49, also the head bowling coach of South Africa, is happy to have a problem of plenty though Starc and Milne, recovering from minor injuries will not be available for the first few games.

“I think the biggest headache is going to be picking the right ( bowling) combination. Mitchel Starc and Adam Milne had a great World Cup. The presence of Sean Abbott, David Wiese gives us great balances here,” said Donald after a practice session at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday evening.

Real pace can hustle any top batsman and Donald knows a thing or two about hustling them.

“I think it’s the first time we have guys of some real pace with speed above 145 and 150km/ h. Starc is unfortunately missing out for three weeks with a dodgy knee. And obviously with the young Indian back up as well. Varun Aaron has had relat i v e l y g o o d t o u r

o f Australia and there is Sandeep Warrier. I think we have nice guys to pick and ( am) really happy,” said the South African.

Given the nature of the competition with just four foreigners in the mix, Donald is fully aware that it’s the Indian brigade that will hold sway over the next six weeks.

“I followed especially Sandeep Warrier in the domestic competition, Yuzhvendra Chahal has done extremely well, Ashok Dinda does what Ashok Dinda does. He always brings something new to the table.” “This form of the game allows you to bring out the best attacking option. There is no other way of setting it up. You need to be aggressive always hunting for wickets. They will always be given license to attack so what we have done is that I asked for feedbacks on last year’s patterns of play where we can step it up this year in terms of our pace.”

Having always played the game in its fiercest spirit, Donald is waiting to unleash his force on the rivals.

It was a dark day the other day at Auckland. We came so close to winning the World Cup. But it’s been five days at home and it’s really nice to return home from a stressful tournament like that and see your wife and kids smiling at you. So it’s not the end of the world for South Africa. We move on and now we are into a new challenge that is another six

more stressful weeks lying ahead.