Yusuf Pathan snatched the game away from the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium yesterday, chasing down 186 with his zealous batting. RCB was in a very good position until the 14th over, with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) struggling at 105/4.
The next six overs turned the game around for KKR, and they won the match by 5 wickets with five balls to spare. RCB now stand seventh in the points table, with just 2 wins in seven games. The bowling has been a huge concern for RCB, although they did dominate a major part of the innings yesterday with some good spells.
The Red army hasn’t been able to capitalize their sturdy starts into wins, throughout this season of the Indian Premier League. During last nights game, in a studio discussion, Sunil Gavaskar had called RCB bowling as "Popatwadi attack".
The right-handed batsman politely disagreed with Gavaskar’s statement at the post-match press conference, as reported by PTI.
"Any team playing, or for that matter any batting lineup, and especially any bowling lineup cannot be called Popatwadi Attack, when teams are participating in big tournaments as IPL. It is his viewpoint and his perception. Whatever he said, it is according to his understanding. But look at Varun Aaron and Shane Watson, they both have represented their country for their achievements," Pathan told reporters during the post-match press conference.
Also read: Yusuf Pathan helps KKR construct brilliant chase to defeat RCB by 5 wickets
Pathan said RCB would be a completely new team once their bowling comes together. He said, "Unfortunately for RCB, compared to their batting strengths, their bowling has not been clicking. It is a matter of two to three games, and if their bowling clicks the team will look altogether a different side."
The 96-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russel played a crucial role in defeating RCB in their backyard.
"In the initial period of our partnership, Russel took the role of going after the bowling, and I steadied the innings, which helped us build a good partnership, and from there on the target began to look small.”
"We were just thinking of staying on the wicket and play shots, when the team was struggling at 69 for four," the 33-year-old said.
‘Gambhir trusts players’
Pathan spoke about Gambhir’s captaincy and said the reason behind Kolkata’s success is that the captain backs and trusts his players in every situation.
"Trusting and backing players in any situation boosts the morale of the players," he said.
He was reminded that the middle and lower order batsmen have not got a chance to bat, with the top- order blazing all the runs for KKR.
"One thing however, is good about KKR - even if the top order fails, the middle order comes to the party as we did today, after the early collapse. They came out good and snatched victory from the jaws of RCB," he said.
Pathan also appreciated KKR's new head coach Jacques Kallis and said the South African legend has played lot of cricket for KKR and makes right decisions knowing the potential of each player.
He also mentioned that all the four coaches - Kallis, Simon Katich (assistant coach), Wasim Akram (bowling coach and mentor) and W V Raman (batting advisor) - work as a team and hence they have enjoyed positive results.
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