Mustafizur’s spell pleases CSK after victory vs RCB
The defending champions chase down 174 with six wickets in hand and eight balls to spare against Bengaluru
Chennai Super Kings’ bowling consultant Eric Simons has heaped praise on Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman for executing the plans perfectly to set up their comfortable sixwicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL opener here.
Mustafizur (4/29) rattled the RCB top-order, dismissing Virat Kohli (21), skipper Faf du Plessis (35) and Rajat Patidar (0) -besides also getting rid of Cameron Green (18), to return with his best ever IPL figures as CSK restricted RCB to 173 for six.
“We always wanted to look at the conditions and the balance of the side. He does suit the conditions, but it’s the simplicity of the plan that we put in place, and he executed that beautifully today (Friday),” said Simons during the post-match press conference.
While RCB was reeling at 78 for five, Anuj Rawat (48) and Dinesh Karthik (38 not out) pair added 95 crucial runs to propel the side to an encouraging total.
Asked why spinner Rachin Ravindra was not introduced to arrest the flow of runs, Simons felt it was a bit late to hand over the ball to him.
“They were 78-5, and the spinners had done a good job. Two overs went for a few, and the momentum shifted, and it was probably late at that stage to throw the ball to him in that situation. From what we have seen in the nets, he can certainly bowl; but at the right time,” the South African said.
Simons stressed on the importance of controlling the powerplay and death overs but credited the RCB batters for dictating terms in the fag end of their innings.
“From the seam perspective, to control the Powerplay and to control the death is a very important aspect of the game. We have a lot of discussions not just about skills but educating ourselves and the bowlers about how to use variations, field placements and tactics,” he said. “DK (Dinesh Karthik) is a daunting guy to bowl to in those moments. Some credit must go to the (RCB) batters as to how they manipulated us. We will then look at it, did we allow to happen too much?”My question is who’s controlling the tactics? Are the (opponent) batters dictating it to us, or vice versa? and you walk away from today thinking that we allowed the batters dictating too much.
“We will review some of those match footage and have discussions about it, along with (Dwayne) Bravo, who has a lot of knowledge.”Chasing 174, CSK batters looked aggressive and Simons said they wanted the batters to play with freedom.
“The important thing in competitions like this is for the batters to be themselves, and that’s the way they like to play, with freedom and be intimidating to the opposition. The batting line-up that we have gives us confidence as to what we can do.
“Rahane will be aggressive, but he will be different to Dube. So, you go and play your game with freedom and expression.”
Gaikwad’s captaincy was impressive: Gavaskar
The legendary Sunil Gavaskar is mighty impressed with Chennai Super Kings’ new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and lauded him for the way he handled his bowlers during the IPL opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru here.
Handed the leadership role just ahead of the IPL, Gaikwad has big shoes to fill and he made an impressive start under the tutelage of talisman MS Dhoni, guiding CSK to a six-wicket win over RCB on Friday night.
“Absolutely! Your debut as a captain becomes very important. You want to begin your captaincy career well with a win and that’s exactly what happened. What was impressive was his bowling changes,” the former India skipper told Star sports.
“Because when you saw the way he kept on changing Mustafizur; the way he used Mustafizur was absolutely terrific. He kept swapping Deepak Chahar, keeping faith in Tushar Deshpande for that final over. I think seeing that Tushar Deshpande had been taken for 25, there was an opportunity to use another bowler, but he still stuck to Tushar Deshpande, and Deshpande responded with a brilliant final over. So, yes, I think the captaincy was most impressive.”
Gavaskar also feels the presence of Dhoni made a big difference. “And we see over here, he has, of course, MS Dhoni around him, to guide him, tell him and give him the encouragement. Sometimes, that little nod from somebody as experienced and as accomplished as MSD, makes a big difference,” he said.
Gavaskar feels RCB kept bowling the short ball far too many times.