WHEN YOU'RE MAKING your fantasy IPL team on Dream 11 or some other platform, bowlers always make for tricky picks. Because in T20 cricket, the roles they play in their actual teams don't always align with what gets the maximum points for your fantasy team.
For example, certain situations will demand non-traditional approaches from bowlers in the shortest format. If the need of the moment is to get a wicket, a bowler may risk getting hit for sixes in an effort to getting them caught. Or if it's all about controlling the opposition's run rate, a bowler may not even try to get the batsmen out, and be happy to give away singles for a bit.
While T20 often still allows a batsman some time to adjust and space out an innings, bowlers have just 24 deliveries to do their job. That leaves very little room for error and no matter how good a bowler is they will not fire all the time. That's probably why at the end of the match, the stats for most bowlers look like unfinished paintings and don't reflect the real role they played.
Which is why it's very important to look for bowlers with a killer instinct who can stop an opposition on their tracks; and do it within a very short period of time. Bowlers who are known not require the "mental warm up" that so many rely on test and ODI, where one bad over spent experimenting with line & length doesn't affect the game as much. You need bowlers who are tuned in from the first delivery, and look to deliver results with every over, not every spell.
Let's take a look at some of the bowlers in the Mumbai Indians roster who can do just that...