Bengaluru, Apr 5 (PTI): An emotionally distraught Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t have much explanation to offer after a third straight defeat as he took the blame on himself. CSK lost to RCB by 43 after Tim David wreaked havoc and the visiting team’s top order blown away quickly by Jacob Duffy. “If I would have contributed more, maybe it could have been different. It (the loss) was definitely on me today,” he said..
“We still had the game in our hands till the 13-14th over (of the bowling innings but let momentum slip after it.” On Tim David’s smashing a 25-ball-70, Gaikwad expressed his disappointment on not getting him quickly when Anshul Kamboj yorked the batter only to find that he had overstepped.
“Almost got a wicket of him but it was an illegal delivery. After that, he smacked it all around the park. Hats off to him.” Pleased as punch after his game-turning knock, RCB’s Australian big-hitter Tim David attributed his superb performance against CSK to the inputs provided by his team’s batting coach Dinesh Karthik which helped him prepare for these conditions.
David, whom his skipper Rajat Patidar termed as the “best finisher he has ever seen”, hit eight sixes apart from three boundaries as RCB piled 250 for 3 and then bowled out CSK for 207.
“I do not change my game much, but I have confidence from all the preparation that I do. It is nice to work with DK (Dinesh Karthik’s fraternity name), he is an experienced player in these conditions. I have been in the IPL for a few years and with that kind of preparation, you don’t put pressure on yourself to perform,” David said at the post match presentation.
He certainly was happy as this kind of performance do not happen every day.
“Very pleased – it does not always happen that way. The skipper (Rajat Patidar, who scored 48 off 19 balls) was smoking it. And I just took some balls off him – it was super fun. Going in to bat with Jitesh (Sharma) and (Romario) Shepherd behind me really gives me confidence,” he said.
Lavishing praise on him, skipper Patidar said: “He (David) is a specialist, and one of the best finishers. He is consistent and one of the best finishers I have ever seen..
The skipper also had special mention for senior player Krunal Pandya, who dismissed Sarfaraz Khan and Kartik Sharma in one over. “Whenever I come under pressure, I look to KP (Krunal Pandya) and I have that much belief in him.” PTI KHS KHS ATK
(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.)
