JOIN USVisibly satisfied with his best Twenty20 bowling effort, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s KP Appanna credited their batsmen for providing to a big total to defend against Rajasthan Royals here on Monday.
“Definitely, the wicket played its part,” admitted the left-arm spinner, the joint man of the match along with AB de Villiers for his 4/19 haul.
“It was turning a bit and played a bit slow. But I think credit should also go to our batsmen. They did a very good job. AB de Villiers and Tillakaratne Dilshan gave us a good total that was crucial,” he remarked while adding that Owais Shah’s stumped dismissal was his favourite amongst the others.
After going for 23 runs in his two overs against Pune Warriors, it was a good comeback from the Karnataka bowler.
“Well in T20s you tend to go for a few runs every now and then, and that understanding has to be there as a bowler. Confidence-wise I had no problem but yes, it’s always nice to stage a comeback,” said Appanna.
Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Rahul Dravid was disappointed that the team couldn’t keep up the initial good work.
“I think in the last seven overs we didn’t execute our plans well. That’s been an issue for us this season. I thought we had the match in control till about 13 overs but credit to their (RCB) batsmen.
“They (De Villiers and Dilshan) are two experienced batsmen and they showed what they are capable of. Our fielding was a bit poor. I thought we could’ve done a lot better,” he observed.
Dravid admitted that he was surprised not to see Chris Gayle open the innings.
“Obviously, we were surprised not to see him open. He is one of their biggest names and you would have planned things around him. But I thought the guys didn’t lose focus and came up with a good job in the first half of the innings.”