It is an open secret that Royal Challengers Bangalore's bowling attack hasn't delivered in the absence of their strike bowler from the last season, Mitchell Starc. They have tried various permutations and combinations, but the unit in unison has failed to threaten too many oppositions at the halfway stage of the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League.
On Monday (May 2), as Royal Challengers were seeking a new start after winning one of their four away games over the last two weeks, the story was no different. Setting Kolkata Knight Riders a target of 186 on a track that favoured the batsmen at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, they seized control in the first half of the innings. Keeping Kolkata quiet with only 69 on the board for the loss of four wickets in the 11th over, Royal Challengers seemed to have the game in their bag. However, 120 runs were scored in the second half of the game, turning the match on its head as Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell steered their side home.
"We were not thinking of anything in particular," said Pathan after the game. "We knew if we stuck around and played our shots, the target will not be too difficult to chase. At one point, when I was setting myself up, Russell played really well, taking the pressure off me. So that was very important that we played for each other."
The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa has been consistently getting Knight Riders off to great starts. On the day, however, the top order failed as did Manish Pandey and Chris Lynn who followed, leaving the bulk of the onus on the lower-middle order. The fact that they stood up in a timely and opportune manner holds the two-time champions in good stead, come the latter stage of the tournament.
"It was an important thing for us, since you know when opening batsmen do well, middle order gets very little time in the middle. The batsmen batting in the middle and lower order feel the pressure of not getting much opportunity. But a good thing for us is now everyone is clicking. In the coming matches, this will give us great confidence," Pathan said.
"We are professional cricketers and we know that when we play in Kolkata, our openers might play 15 overs and we might not get a chance to bat at all, but in the knockouts, if we qualify, our services might be needed again. So yes, we are a confident unit now, and ready to face any situation."
More often than not, Knight Riders have ticked the right boxes so far this season. Factoring in their approach of retention of their core group of players, a support staff that consists of Wasim Akram, Simon Katich and Jacques Kallis, in addition to Gambhir's belief in his side, makes them a unit to reckon with - something that Pathan acknowledged wholeheartedly.
"Gambhir is a very good captain and he believes in, and backs his players under any situation," Pathan said. "If you noticed today, Piyush (Chawla) gave away some runs early on in his first two overs, but Gambhir trusted him and gave him the ball again. And see, he (Chawla) picked up wickets later on. It is important for us players that your captain backs you all the time. The coaches we have also play a big role in keeping us motivated. All the coaches are in the dugout when we are batting and are always involved."
Stuart Binny opened the bowling for Royal Challengers and scalped Uthappa immediately. With the start provided by the bowlers in the first half of Knight Riders' innings, who figured that the pitch was spongy and the ball wasn't coming onto the bat easily, they bowled short - a ploy that seemed to work well in their favour - until the 12th over.
"We're disappointed with the way we bowled tonight," rued Binny after the five-wicket loss." We have struggled in the middle overs to get wickets. We needed to get Russell and Yusuf if we had to have a chance and it didn't come off. We didn't bowl too many balls which were full...that was the plan but the execution was pretty poor. We bowled well in the first eight overs. We had them trying to catch up with the run rate but lost it from the 12th over onwards," he said.
Pathan and Russell chased down the set target of 186 with ease in the end, with five balls to spare. But Binny conceded that 180 was never Bangalore's target to begin with. After losing Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers early, it seemed like a tough chance to get that far, especially after set batsmen Virat Kohli and KL Rahul departed after respective fifties. Cameos from Sachin Baby, Binny and Shane Watson, however, saw them post a formidable total.
"We had calculated that we wanted 170-175. We ended up with one good over towards the back end, got some momentum going in at the end of the innings and then got an early wicket. We had not planned to get 180. We were looking to get 165-170 and we ended up getting one big over at a stage where we could push the game,"
http://opera.m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/79710/important-for-players-that-your-captain-backs-you-pathan
On Monday (May 2), as Royal Challengers were seeking a new start after winning one of their four away games over the last two weeks, the story was no different. Setting Kolkata Knight Riders a target of 186 on a track that favoured the batsmen at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, they seized control in the first half of the innings. Keeping Kolkata quiet with only 69 on the board for the loss of four wickets in the 11th over, Royal Challengers seemed to have the game in their bag. However, 120 runs were scored in the second half of the game, turning the match on its head as Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell steered their side home.
"We were not thinking of anything in particular," said Pathan after the game. "We knew if we stuck around and played our shots, the target will not be too difficult to chase. At one point, when I was setting myself up, Russell played really well, taking the pressure off me. So that was very important that we played for each other."
The opening pair of Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa has been consistently getting Knight Riders off to great starts. On the day, however, the top order failed as did Manish Pandey and Chris Lynn who followed, leaving the bulk of the onus on the lower-middle order. The fact that they stood up in a timely and opportune manner holds the two-time champions in good stead, come the latter stage of the tournament.
"It was an important thing for us, since you know when opening batsmen do well, middle order gets very little time in the middle. The batsmen batting in the middle and lower order feel the pressure of not getting much opportunity. But a good thing for us is now everyone is clicking. In the coming matches, this will give us great confidence," Pathan said.
"We are professional cricketers and we know that when we play in Kolkata, our openers might play 15 overs and we might not get a chance to bat at all, but in the knockouts, if we qualify, our services might be needed again. So yes, we are a confident unit now, and ready to face any situation."
More often than not, Knight Riders have ticked the right boxes so far this season. Factoring in their approach of retention of their core group of players, a support staff that consists of Wasim Akram, Simon Katich and Jacques Kallis, in addition to Gambhir's belief in his side, makes them a unit to reckon with - something that Pathan acknowledged wholeheartedly.
"Gambhir is a very good captain and he believes in, and backs his players under any situation," Pathan said. "If you noticed today, Piyush (Chawla) gave away some runs early on in his first two overs, but Gambhir trusted him and gave him the ball again. And see, he (Chawla) picked up wickets later on. It is important for us players that your captain backs you all the time. The coaches we have also play a big role in keeping us motivated. All the coaches are in the dugout when we are batting and are always involved."
Stuart Binny opened the bowling for Royal Challengers and scalped Uthappa immediately. With the start provided by the bowlers in the first half of Knight Riders' innings, who figured that the pitch was spongy and the ball wasn't coming onto the bat easily, they bowled short - a ploy that seemed to work well in their favour - until the 12th over.
"We're disappointed with the way we bowled tonight," rued Binny after the five-wicket loss." We have struggled in the middle overs to get wickets. We needed to get Russell and Yusuf if we had to have a chance and it didn't come off. We didn't bowl too many balls which were full...that was the plan but the execution was pretty poor. We bowled well in the first eight overs. We had them trying to catch up with the run rate but lost it from the 12th over onwards," he said.
Pathan and Russell chased down the set target of 186 with ease in the end, with five balls to spare. But Binny conceded that 180 was never Bangalore's target to begin with. After losing Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers early, it seemed like a tough chance to get that far, especially after set batsmen Virat Kohli and KL Rahul departed after respective fifties. Cameos from Sachin Baby, Binny and Shane Watson, however, saw them post a formidable total.
"We had calculated that we wanted 170-175. We ended up with one good over towards the back end, got some momentum going in at the end of the innings and then got an early wicket. We had not planned to get 180. We were looking to get 165-170 and we ended up getting one big over at a stage where we could push the game,"
http://opera.m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/79710/important-for-players-that-your-captain-backs-you-pathan
