Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar praised the lionhearted effort by his bowlers on a dew-plagued wicket for their 12-run win over the Mumbai Indians that ended their 10-year win-drought at the Wankhede Stadium in the Indian Premier League on Monday
Krunal Pandya claimed 4-45, including three wickets in the final over as RCB quelled a brilliant fight back by MI, fuelled by a blazing half-century by Tilak Varma (56) and a 15-ball 42 by Hardik Pandya, who had brought Mumbai from needing 132 off 56 balls to 41 off 18. Though both Varma and Hardik were out in quick succession, Mumbai Indians needed 28 off 12 balls but fell short by 12 runs. Mumbai Indians ended with 209/9 while chasing RCB’s 221/5 built on quickfire half-centuries by Virat Kohli (67) and skipper Patidar (64).
Though Patidar was declared the Player of the Match for his astute handling of the bowling in a tense situation, he said the bowlers were the heroes, and one of them should have got the award.
“It was a really amazing match. It was very hard. The way the bowlers have shown their courage was amazing to watch. This award goes to the bowling unit. It is not easy to stop any team, especially at this ground, and the way they have done it was incredible. The way the fast bowlers executed their plans was amazing,” said Patidar after the match.
He showered special praise on Krunal Pandya for the final over he bowled on Monday.
“The way KP (Krunal Pandya) bowled that last over, it was not easy and the way he bowled was amazing. The way he showed courage was fantastic. It was pretty clear (at the second time-out) that we had to take the game as much deep as we could, and then we could use one over of KP at the last. The wicket was really amazing to bat on. Typical Mumbai wicket, and the ball was coming nicely onto the bat with bounce,” said Patidar.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain said he decided to go berserk in the hunt for quick runs after Hardik Pandya completed his fourth over. Pandya was the best bowler for MI on Monday as he claimed 2-45.
RCB’s left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya said it was difficult bowling against his brother Hardik, but said both wanted to win the match, and on Monday, only one Pandya could have won it.
“The bond that we have, at the end of the day, we knew only one (Pandya) would win. But the love and affection we have for each other is very natural. He batted well. We won, and I also wanted to win; he also wanted to win.
“I feel for him. When I came on to bowl, when Santner was batting, the leg-side was shorter. The amount of games I have played in the last ten years, whatever experience I had, it had to come in, right?
“Sometimes, you want to commit, but you know it is important to commit 100%, so the execution becomes much on your side. I was clear in a way where I wanted to commit fully to whatever ball I wanted to bowl,” said Krunal.
Hardik said his team put up a big fight but fell short by two hits. “We fell short with two hits, don’t know what to say. The way the wicket was, the bowlers did not really have much space to hide. It came down to execution. You can stop the batters, but I don’t want to be harsh on the bowlers. It was a tough track, not many options. 5-10, maybe 12 runs I can say (we conceded more),” said Hardik.
