Bengaluru: After the IPL auction, Royal Challengers Bangalore emerged the strongest batting line-up on paper, but their bowling seemed to have lacked teeth. Five matches into the season and three defeats on, it’s been a different song. RCB’s willow wielders, some of the best in business, have put the team in a spot of bother.
On Thursday, as RCB chief coach Daniel Vettori looked forward to his team’s first home outing scheduled for Sunday, the former New Zealand spinner was confident the tide will turn in their favour.
Excerpts:
On coping with three consecutive loses: Not too bad. Obviously there is excitement about coming back to Bengaluru. The team, especially batsmen, has played exceptionally well here in the past. Everyone plays well in their home conditions but we have got a great record in here. So we will lean on that heavily in the next few days.
On chinks in the team: I think it’s just the couple of games, especially against Kolkata, we haven’t seen the job through. The guys have spoken about that and there is a need to finish the job off. Our bowling and fielding has been exceptional and the batting has been really good in spots.
On Yuvraj Singh’s form: If you look at his game individually, he helped us win the first one, played really well in the last game and almost got us home in the third one. Yuvi has been improving all the time and I am excited by some of his performances.
On Virat’s captaincy: Virat has done an exceptional job. I have always admired leaders who have that intensity on the field and immense desire to win. And that’s what Virat has done so far. He is someone our young brigade really wants to follow.
On bowlers: We were always really confident about our bowling. Ashok Dinda, Mitchell Starc and Varun Aaron have done well. Albie Morkel has played a lot of IPL games and I had a good feeling about Chahal.
On Chris Gayle’s availability: There are a few days before the next game, so I hope he will be available. Gayle taking injections, a desperate call?: It’s just from Chris’ perspective. He loves playing for RCB and it was his desire to get back to the park. There was no push from the management.
