'Bowling was off-colour'

Jadhav's wicket was the turning point, says Watson

To regroup after losing some of the key players was always going to be a challenge and in their defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the league opener on Wednesday, it was evident that the Royal Challengers Bangalore hadn’t found their best combination of players yet.

“This is a lot different team compared to the one that played in the final against Sunrisers last year. Many changes have been made and we still have to gel well. We need to get adjusted with the new group and new combinations that we make,” Watson reasoned at the post-match press conference on Wednesday.

Bowling once again turned out to be RCB’s weak link. Aniketh Choudhary was the most expensive, giving away 55 runs for one wicket in his four overs. The figures for Watson (0/41) and S Arvind (0/36) – who bowled three overs each – weren’t impressive either. Watson agreed that the Challengers didn’t click as a bowling unit.

“The quick bowlers weren’t quite as effective as we thought they might be. Our bowling on the whole was a bit off-colour,” he offered. The all-rounder though wasn’t completely harsh on his bowlers and backed them saying it is still a learning curve for many youngsters.

“We have many new and young players in the likes of Tymal Mills and Aniketh Choudhary and it’s a good learning experience for them. Credit must go to Sunrisers for their good batting. Apart from our bowling, fielding too let us down. If you drop someone like Yuvraj (Singh) he can hurt you the way he did in the game,” Watson noted.

Turning point
Despite the huge target, the RCB looked like they were up for the fight with their batsmen maintaining the required run-rate for the first ten overs. However, some poor executions pegged them back and the dismissal of the dangerous-looking Kedar Jadhav turned the game in Sunrisers’ favour.

“It was a massive total but the wicket was nice and half-way through it looked like we could chase down the target. We were five down but we just needed one good partnership.

 “Unfortunately we lost too many wickets in the second-half of the innings and Kedhar’s run-out was the turning point. He has been batting so well and it was a big wicket to lose,” said Watson.