Woodhill hopes for batsmen to fire

Injuries have played a part in greatly reducing Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting firepower and Trent Woodhill, their batting coach, hoped the team would regain its reputation with the return of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli.

“Well they are not some injuries… A world class player like KL Rahul – top 10 in the world across all three formats at the moment – not being around is a massive loss. Sarfaraz Khan tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) two days before the start (and that) was a massive loss to the tournament not just RCB. He was set to turn the lights on this summer. It’s opportunity time now for the players coming in and getting a chance and doing what KL (Rahul) did last year. Having Virat Kohli back and having AB back is great so we need to build and build quickly in their presence,” said the Australian.

He also egged on the young guns in the team to make most of opportunities that are coming their way in the absence of Rahul and Sarfaraz.

“Mandeep was mainly selected as an opener. He did well for us last year in the lower middle order so he’ll turn the tide as well. It’s a case of when, not if. He’s going to play a sensational innings either tomorrow or against Gujarat. He’s a quality player and we have seen that in all the Indian players whether it is (Nitish) Rana or Sanju Samson. It’s about taking the opportunity when you get it. Mandeep did well in that partnership with AB in Indore on a tough surface and he started well in Hyderabad so he’ll get his chance and I’m sure he’ll take it.”    

Woodhill also spoke positively about Chris Gayle. “My role is to work with everyone. My job is to get the best out of Chris or Shane Watson, whoever is selected. Chris is hitting the ball well in the nets and he’s due for a score. Hopefully it’s tomorrow.”

Woodhill gave the example of Kieron Pollard on how to pace an innings. “If you are looking at yesterday’s match, Pollard played an exceptional innings. What a fantastic innings! Virat was exceptional too. So two guys there mastered the conditions. If somebody gets in, that guy has to go on.”