McCullum slams poor RCB fielding
Brendon McCullum blamed Royal Challengers Bangalore fielding for the six-wicket loss against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.
The Kiwi batsman made 38 on his return after being dropped for two games as RCB posted 175/4. However, the score proved a bit under par.
McCullum said at a media interaction, “To be honest, 175 was a good score. There was turn and variable bounce as well. I thought the way we bowled in the first six overs, the scoreboard didn’t reflect how well we executed our plans. (But) we had our chances, we dropped too many catches. We were good with the bat and good with the ball, but in the field it was disappointing. Unfortunately, you can’t be like this in this competition.”
The former Kiwi skipper gave credit to the opposition and refused to blame the Indian pacers in his side. With Virat Kohli playing two leg-spinners in a bid to attack, the onus was on others to back up. However, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj
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couldn’t restrict the batsmen.
“If you look at the figures, it tells a different story. But if you look at the way we bowled, the areas we bowled, the way we created the chances, we did well. This is probably the best first 10 overs we’ve bowled as a group for a while. We had our chances and didn’t take them. We can’t be harsh on bowlers, we should have backed them with our fielding.”
He felt luck played a key role in RCB a chance and said the team was frustrated that KKR openers got away with some streaky shots. “It can sometimes happen.”