Kumble hopeful of bouncing back in B’lore
Despite suffering a seven-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL III opener, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble said his team was capable of staging a comeback against Kings XI Punjab in their next outing.
RCB will face Kings XI in Bangalore on Tuesday in their second match. “Well, we can’t do much about the scheduling, but we are confident of coming back and it will be our home game, and that factor will count in our favour. I am confident we can regroup,” Kumble told reporters in his post-match press-do on Sunday.
The veteran leg-spinner admitted that their performance against Knight Riders on the day was well below par. “135 was definitely not a par score on this wicket. But I am not taking anything away from Knight Riders, they bowled well,” he said.
Kumble had a word of praise for Jacques Kallis, who made a fine unbeaten 65 to add a touch of respectability to RCB total. “Kallis batted well, and that’s the way he bats. We don’t want to change anything in that. It’s just that we lost too many wickets upfront that cost us the match.
“In fact, Kallis was batting well in the company of Rahul Dravid but unfortunately Dravid got out in the wrong time. On a good day, those inside edges (Dravid and Manish Pandey) could have gone for boundaries,” he added.
Meanwhile, Knight Riders’ captain Sourav Ganguly was understandably beaming. “I don’t know what is the secret behind our wins. But we are playing well at the moment, and hopefully we can keep doing that,” Ganguly said.
The left-hander admitted that the change in guard, referring obliquely to the change in the coaching staff, helped their performance. “Yeah, change in players, coaching staff, other support staff all can bring in a change of atmosphere. As long as we are doing well, then everything will be fine.”
Ganguly was happy seeing Manoj Tiwary doing well for the team. “I always thought that guys like Tiwary and Pujara have talent and it’s just that they needed to be given right number of chances. Hopefully these guys will keep doing well for us. Having said that today (Brad) Hodge was also exceptional in playing a good innings,” he said.
On the role of Wasim Akram, the bowling consultant of KKR, Ganguly said, “He started working with our bowlers in the nets. Young guys like Ishant, Varun Aaron and Ashok Dinda can learn a lot from him.”
