Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan praised Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowling unit for delivering 51 dot balls in their IPL 2026 clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The contest was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, April 15.

Asked to bat first, LSG were bowled out for 146 in 20 overs, with Rasikh Salam starring with figures of 4/24, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar chipped in with 3/27. In reply, the hosts chased down the target comfortably, winning by five wickets with 29 balls remaining.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Pathan applauded RCB’s bowlers for maintaining a high percentage of dot balls and added that Rasikh was the biggest positive from the game. He said:

“Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood bowled brilliantly. Rasikh Salam emerged as the biggest positive in this match taking four wickets. But the planning was truly commendable. They bowled 51 dot balls against Lucknow. It means nearly 50 percent of the deliveries in a 20-over game were dots. That means Lucknow were never really in the game with their batting.”

The 41-year-old further stated that RCB’s bowlers planned brilliantly and read the pitch well, understanding that there wouldn’t be much swing, and therefore avoided bowling full deliveries. He said:

“They (LSG) must have felt that the pitch would offer good bounce and that they could easily cross the 200-run mark. But Bengaluru’s bowling was planned very well. They knew that there wouldn’t be much swing so they avoided pitching full and instead bowled hard lengths.”

With four wins from five matches, RCB sit at the top of the table with eight points.

“He used back-of-the-hand slower balls” – Irfan Pathan commends uncapped RCB pacer after LSG game

In the same video, Irfan Pathan praised Rasikh Salam for his spell of 4/24, noting that he dismissed set batters with clever variations. He added that the performance would boost his confidence and highlighted that Rasikh is among the very few bowlers who consistently execute effective back-of-the-hand slower balls. Pathan said:

“Rasikh Salam is an experienced player. Even though he has played only about 15 matches, the way he bowled in this game was outstanding. He used back-of-the-hand slower balls. He took the first wicket providing the breakthrough, which is always crucial. After that, he dismissed set batters using variations. He got Ayush Badoni out, who was looking well set and in good touch. Then he bowled Mukul Choudhary, a dangerous hitter, clean bowled. Finally, he took the wicket of Avesh Khan.

“Overall, this performance would have given him a lot of confidence and also boosted Bengaluru’s bowling unit. There are very few bowlers in the entire league who consistently bowl effective back of the hand slower balls. Only a few like Ashok Sharma, Brijesh Sharma and now Rasikh Salam stand out in that skill,” he added.

The 26-year-old has taken 15 wickets in 15 IPL matches, averaging 30.40, with a strike rate of 18.1 and an economy rate of 10.05.