Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar felt that his bowlers grabbing three crucial wickets during the Power Play overs of Chennai Super Kings’ chase was the game-changing moment in their 50-run win in the IPL in Chennai on Friday.
Josh Hazlewood (3/21) dismissed CSK opener Rahul Tripathi and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad while Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent Deepak Hooda back as the home side were reduced to 30 for 3 at the end of six overs while chasing 197.
“It was game-changing because we got two-three wickets in the first six overs. Amazing to see how they kept it on the hard length because the ball wasn’t coming on to the bat easily,” Patidar said at the post-match presentation.
“This track was pretty helpful for spinners, so, I was just keeping it in my mind that I could use my spinners at the early stage. Especially Livingstone, the way he came in and bowled four overs was incredible.”
Patidar, who was also adjudged player of the match for his 51 off 32 balls in RCB’s 196 for 7, said he knew the total would be difficult to chase down for CSK.
“If I talk about this match, it was a good total on this surface because ball was stopping a bit and it wasn’t easy for batters to hit fours and sixes. It’s always special playing in Chepauk because of the fans, the way they support their teams.”
On his innings, he said, “I think it was very important because we were targeting 200 because that wouldn’t be easy to chase. My goal was clear that as long as I was there, I would maximise every ball.”
Hazlewood said RCB has steadily improved since beating Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in the first match at Kolkata.
“Feeling nice and fresh. As a group tonight we were outstanding. Improved from our last game against KKR. Made good use of the conditions and did well as a pace and spin unit.
“I think with this wicket here you get a little bit of up and down, a little two paced, so the fuller ball is easier to face so just hitting that 8-10m length. The energy was great, the effort from the fielding group was excellent, saving runs and taking catches.”
Hazlewood said having a left-arm pacer like Yash Dayal helps the bowling combination.
“It really lifts us up as bowlers. Any time you get injured you can feel down, but if you use that time nicely and get some nice time in the gym, it’s a nice position to be in.
“I think having a left-armer (Yash Dayal) is crucial. Every team in the competition has a left-arm quick and his changes of pace was excellent today and he is a class act,” he said.
CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted that his team was chasing at least 20 runs more than the par score.
“I still feel 170 was a par score on this wicket. It wasn’t that easy to bat. Bad fielding cost us. When you’re chasing 170, you have a little more time, but when you’re chasing 20 runs extra you have to bat differently in the power play and it didn’t happen today.
“It (wicket) got a little slower, it got a little sticky. The new ball was sticking a bit. Don’t know how it happened. Rahul backed his shot, I backed mine as well, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.”
Gaikwad said his team needs a lot of improvement in fielding.
“I feel the fielding has to improve a lot and we have to come back stronger in the fielding department. We dropped catches and boundaries kept coming and they (RCB) kept going and the momentum didn’t stop till the last over.
“But at the end we didn’t lose by a big margin, it was just 50 runs. Definitely a different scenario when you have three world-class spinners in the team. You want new batters to face them. It didn’t happen this time.
“There’s a long flight to Guwahati (for next match) but we just have to turn up mentally and see which are the areas we can improve,” he added.