JOIN USRCB fail to match fans' enthusiasm
In the face of a changed team-combination, there were questions about fans connecting with the new set of players but those were mere doubts and they were set aisde emphatically as the RCB supporters turned up in huge numbers sporting red and yellow outfit here on Tuesday night as they took on Mumbai Indians.
Challengers’ performance on the night, however, didn’t quite match the enthusiasm of their ardent supporters. A below par batting show, made difficult by the nature of the pitch, was followed by a limp bowling exhibition as Mumbai extended their winning streak against the Bangalore side to four matches.
“Yeah, for a lot of us who were playing the first game in front of the Bangalore crowd (it was disapponitng),“ said RCB skipper Daniel Vettori after the match. “We feel like we have let them down with our performance tonight. But it is only our second game of this season. So we have to pick ourselves up very quickly. We have got a couple of quick games in a row and hopefully we play well. Mumbai is one of the favourites and we have Chennai (another favourites) next,” he remarked.
Admittedly there weren’t enough runs on board for the bowlers to make a first of it, but they didn’t even as much stretch the Mumbai batsmen who appeared to be batting on a different surface. Zaheer Khan and A Mithun were expensive and the fact that Dirk Nannes had to walk off the field after bowling just one over due to a side strain, only added to Challengers’ woes.
“It still had a little bit,” noted Vettori when asked if the pitch was easy to bat on in the second innings. “When we bowled it turned. Sometimes the dew makes it a little bit easier to bat. (But) I don’t think we bowled well to compete against Mumbai. They have a very nice batting line-up. So, we had to be on the top of our game and losing Nannes too didn’t help,” he reasoned.
It’s obvious that Challengers’ attack isn’t the same as it used to be in the last three seasons. An express quick Dale Steyn, the canny duo of Praveen Kumar and R Vinay Kumar and the inimitable Anil Kumble made for a versatile bowling line-up that was equally effective. While Vettori has managed to fill into the big shoes of Kumble, the others haven’t quite risen to the challenge.
A Mithun, the only local buy by the Vijay Mallya-owned franchise, has been disappointing in the last two matches but Vettori had a word of encouragement for the right-arm paceman. “You always want your bowlers to bowl well. It doesn’t matter how experienced or inexperienced you are,” pointed out the Kiwi. “You want the guys to do well. I thought the last over he bowled, he produced some good yorkers. He is a quality bowler and so we have to use him in the squad. It is important to have as many seam bowlers as you can in the squad. May be the next game, the wicket allows us to use an extra spinner. He is still a quality bowler and we will try to get the best out of him as soon as we can,” he elaborated.