Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis admitted that they lacked variety in their bowling towards the end against Chennai Super Kings at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Tuesday. Faf feels his team missed the services of Harshal Patel, who has been outstanding for the franchise in the death overs.
Patel had to miss the match against CSK after his sister’s demise. Meanwhile, Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa wreaked havoc on the RCB bowling as they batted at the top of their game. In fact, CSK got off to a slow start as they were 60-2 after 10 overs however Dube and Uthappa were able to flip the switch.
The duo added 165 runs for the third wicket off just 73 balls as took the RCB bowlers to the cleaners. Uthappa first launched his attack against Mohammed Siraj and then Dube tormented young pacer Akash Deep as he was taken for 24 runs in the 18th over. The alliance of 165 runs is the highest in this season whereas it is the second-highest for CSK. Uthappa scored 88 runs whereas Dube contributed 95 runs for the team
RCB bowlers could not execute their plans in the death overs and they were punished by Uthappa and Dube. Except for Josh Hazlewood, all the RCB bowlers took a beating with Akash Deep conceding 58 runs in his quota of four overs.
On the other hand, RCB could not get off to a good start as they lost three wickets in the powerplay overs. Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, debutant Suryansh Prabudessai and Dinesh Karthik all got off to starts but could not go all the way. DK gave a glimmer of hope to his team in the end but he had too much to do in the death overs.
Faf du Plessis said in the post-match presentation, “First of all our 7-8 overs were good. Then 8-14 we tried to bring the spinners on and they played really well. Dube taking on the spinners, they took the momentum they carried from 8-14. That partnership speaks for itself. When you are chasing a big score you have to have a good start. One of the first four setting up the foundation, we didn’t have that tonight. Good bowling from Chennai, they used their spinners well on a pitch that had some grip. We lost momentum with wickets, but we came back well. That shows the depth in our batting. Just shows you when you play a match like tonight.”
He added, “You see the value he (Harshal) offers not just to this team but any team. He has got the ability to really stop the game. We missed that tonight. Even towards the end, we lacked variety. Big miss for us, hopefully, we will have him back soon again. Impressed by the way the guys coming in on a debut at 5 or 6 and playing like that just shows depth in our bowling. Even though we lost we were only 20 runs short on a total we should have been blown out of order and that is impressive.”
RCB will be a bit disappointed with their bowling effort and Harshal Patel is expected to join the team for the next game. RCB will next face Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday.
