Dharamsala, May 26 (PTI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar on Tuesday said a fearless approach of not worrying about being dismissed, and looking to put bowlers under pressure, is his mantra after powering his side to the IPL final with a 92-run win over Gujarat Titans.
Patidar went hammer and tongs in his 33-ball 93 not out which included nine sixes and five fours and lifted RCB to a highest-ever total of 254 for five in an IPL knockout game.
In reply, Gujarat Titans were blown away for a mere 162 in 19.3 overs as RCB, the defending champions, stormed into a second consecutive final.
“(It was a) super game for us, the way the batters dominated, striking with intent, was good for us. It wasn’t a clear plan, but we were ready for it, have to show some body language that we are ready for you, every batter showed it, attacking mindset,” Patidar told the broadcaster after the match.
“I take a few balls 8-10 balls to see how the wicket is doing and then I have a clear mind to go about it, I’m not worried about my wicket. I try and put the bowler under pressure.
“The wicket was not that easy to get under the ball and hit, there was variable bounce. The way GT played till now, we were clear we had to get their three main batters out in the powerplay, and it worked,” he said.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who returned 4-0-28-3 to reclaim the Purple Cap, said the credit also has to go to the support staff that help RCB bowlers draw their plans.
“A lot of credit goes to the men behind the scenes, the kind of plans and the way we executed those plans. The experience of Hoff (Josh Hazlewood) and me is useful, but the support staff has been outstanding,” he said.
“They set up the plans and we’re executing. I can say we’re data informed, if there’s places where we can improve, we do refer it, but we don’t go 100 per cent. We make a lot of effort not to give room, get those leg-before wickets and bowled, we do a lot of planning,” Bhuvneshwar added.
Gujarat Titans’ skipper Shubman Gill conceded it was not their day after the 2022 winners were pummelled by RCB batters in the first half and strangulated by their bowlers in the second.
GT, chasing 255, had slipped to 88 for eight in 11.2 overs to concede the game.
“We were going pretty well up until the 12th, 13th over, and I don’t think our fielding was at par, dropping a couple of catches, and then our ground fielding was not up to the mark,” Gill said.
“This is one of those games that we’d like to forget and start over in Mohali.” “I don’t think it was our day, the intensity was right there, but under pressure situations, we were not up to the mark,” he added.
Gill said it is all about making the most of the powerplay but his side was not able to get a strong start.
“It’s all about getting a good start. If you get a good powerplay and on a ground like this we know the ball travels and the outfield is also very quick,” he said.
“If you (GT) would have gotten off to a good start in the powerplay, any target with the kind of way the wicket was playing and the kind of ground that we were playing at, it could have been chaseable,” the India batter added. PTI DDV DDV AH AH
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
