XtraTime Web Desk – Another season, another disappointing end to Royal Challengers Bangalore. What had been a resurgent and determined Bangalore in the first half of the tournament, they could not hold on to the drive in the second half. On Friday, they were knocked out of the Eliminator by a dominant Sunrisers Hyderabad. The Royal Challengers could only manage 131 in their quota of 20 overs loosing 7 wickets facing an outstanding bowling performance by the Sunrisers.
Head coach Simon Katich thinks that the batting ‘ran out of steam’ after the initial surge in the tournament. “We felt like we were on track at the 10-games mark, and then heading into the last four games… looking back on it now, it feels like we probably ran out of a bit steam, particularly with the bat” said Katish at the press conference.
“That’s probably the one area that faded a bit after a really good start to the tournament. Credit to the Sunrisers today, I thought they squeezed us beautifully. They took early wickets and then we were always under pressure trying to play catch up. We always felt if we can get 150 on the board we would be in the game, particularly with the two leggies (Yuzvendra Chahal and Adam Zampa) in the team and seeing the wicket. It was slow and offering a little bit of turn. To stack our batting today and only get 130 was disappointing. Sunrisers thoroughly deserved to go through.” Katich added mentioning the points that led to their downfall.
The Bangalore side played with a stable opening combination for most of the tournament, initially starting with Aaron Finch and Padikkal at the top and then with Josh Philippe, after replacing an out of form Finch. But for the Eliminator, they treid a different approach and it was Kohli who came out to open with Padikkal.
“Yeah look it was settled, Aaron Finch didn’t get dropped till the 11th game. In terms of a settled combination, we did that for the first ten games. Unfortunately, Finchy didn’t make as many runs as he would have liked. We made the change, Josh Philippe came in, got an opportunity. But when it came to the playoffs, we made a decision that Virat was going to open today. Unfortunately it didn’t work, but realistically, we didn’t chop and change too much compared to the past. It was pretty consistent for the bulk of the tournament. Just ended up being a forced change due to form.”said Katich.
Katich also looked optimistic and mentioned the positives he takes out of this season. “While we fell away to the back end of the tournament, I think throughout, we felt like we made some strides on the previous couple of years,” he said. “Plenty of positives in the tournament, certainly not all doom and gloom. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve learned from this experience. Tonight’s a great lesson for our younger guys, to experience the pressure cooker of the playoffs. Obviously didn’t go to plan tonight, hopefully that lesson and experience will hold them in good stead in years to come.”
Even after posting 131, The Royal Challengers made it a tough task to get through for the Sunrisers by some attacking bowling. But at the end the partnership between Kane Williamson and Jasan Holder took Sunrisers to the next stage.