Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Chris Morris said that they leaked a few boundaries and got their bowling game plan slightly wrong as according to him they had enough total on the board against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), on Thursday, 15 October.
Speaking during the post-match press conference, Morris said that they should have defended that total, which was enough on that surface but they will take confidence from the fact that they took it to the last ball when it looked over by the second last over.
Needing 11 runs off the last three overs, KXIP scored just 10 runs in 2.3 overs with 1 run required off the last 3 balls. KL Rahul played a dot ball and on the next ball, Chris Gayle got run-out and the equation was one needed off the last ball with a new batsman on strike. However, incoming Nicholas Pooran got a loopy full-toss and he hit it for a six, even if it hit the toe-end of the bat.
Asked about the plan in the last two overs when KXIP needed just 7 runs, Morris said the pacers tried their best to bring the game as close as possible and hitting the spinners is always difficult. He added that having someone as clever as Yuzvendra Chahal is great for the side as anything can happen in the game and doesn’t matter how many runs are required off the last over.
After losing Mayank Agarwal in the 8th over, Gayle came out to bat at No 3. He took his time initially and was at 6* (14) at one stage, before getting set and hitting fives sixes on the way to his half-century. Asked about the challenges of bowling to someone like him, who makes up in the end after taking his time, Morris said that Gayle is a class player, and has that record for a reason. He said that he assessed the conditions well and exploded at the right time for his side.
RCB managed to score 171 owing to Morris’ late blitz of 25* (8) before they struggling at 136-6. AB de Villiers who scored 73* (33) in the last game on the same ground came in at No 6 when they had only 4 overs to play. Asked about the shuffle in the batting order, Morris said that it is always difficult for a spinner or any bowler to bowl to left-right combination (referring to KL-Gayle partnership). He added that sometimes tactics like these work, sometimes don’t but he mentioned that both Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube did hit a few big shots.
After losing the game, RCB now have five wins and three losses and still hold on to their third position in the points table.
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