Relief, more than joy, was palpable on Rahul Dravid's face. Finally, the Royal Challengers eked out their first win in front of their home crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Deccan Chargers on Saturday...
“It's a big relief… We finally won a game in Bangalore after four attempts,” said Dravid in his post match comments.
“We have been coming close in the last couple of games, it's just that we were not able to crack it. We probably deserved a bit of luck today. It's good to win because falling behind any more than this would have made it a difficult task for us,” he added.
The skipper was all praise for the blinder Dale Steyn took to dismiss the dangerous Shahid Afridi with the game nicely poised. “What a fantastic catch! Dale running from the boundary line showed great commitment and effort.
I thought the bowling of the seamers was just superb today. All three of them bowled superb spells under pressure and I really thought that was the turning point of the game,” he pointed out.
Bangar’s charge
Dravid admitted his heart was in his mouth when Sanjay Bangar carted Anil Kumble for two sixes in the last over to change the equation in favour of the visitors. “When the first two balls didn't go for many, I started breathing a bit easy. Then he hit a six and I thought he can't do it again. But he did it again and we were just one hit away from losing the game. But Anil held his nerve and bowled two good deliveries. Hats off to him. I thought we were 15 runs light with our batting today on a slow wicket and to be fair to them, the ball got a bit greased up with the dew but the bowlers did a good job,” he explained.
Turning point
Chargers' skipper VVS Laxman termed the dismissal of Rohit Sharma as the turning point of the game. “He is in great nick and we had already got 11 runs in that over. That was a big wicket to fall at that stage,” he reasoned.
Despite having one of the stronger outfits, the Chargers have failed to live up to expectations. “Cricket is not played on paper. But as far as this game is concerned, I've no complaints. We bowled and fielded as we had planned. We wanted to bat positively and at the same time not lose many wickets which we did. But we lost too many wickets after the 15th over,” he elaborated.
We have been coming close in the last couple of games, it's just that we were not able to crack it. We probably deserved a bit of luck today. It's good to win because falling behind any more than this would have made it a difficult task for us,” he added.
