Mumbai, April 16 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) chief coach Sanjay Bangar wants his top order to show more consistency as the team looks to overcome the loss to four-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings in the ‘Southern Derby’ recently.
RCB take on Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede on Saturday night and Bangar has asked for “individual performers” at the top, who have the “capability and calibre”, to deliver in the crucial game.
Following a string of three victories, the Faf du Plessis-led RCB hit a bump, losing to CSK by 23 runs in a high-scoring game, where Shivam Dube’s unbeaten 95 and Robin Uthappa’s 88 sealed the game in Chennai’s favour.
While RCB’s Dinesh Karthik (34), Shahbaz Ahmed (41) and and Suyash Prabhudessai (34) came up with useful knocks, it was not enough to chase down a mammoth 217-run target set by CSK for victory.
Bangar said that there were several areas for improvement, notably a consistent showing from the top order.
“Obviously there are a lot of areas of improvement from us; we are still to get consistent scores from the top order, especially individual performers and we all know the capability and calibre of our top order, so I’m pretty confident that they’re gonna come good. And add to that the way the lower order and the middle order have impressed and shown great character in terms of coming back from pressure situations, that is something that gives us a lot of confidence,” said Bangar.
Bangar gave credit to Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa for CSK’s victory, saying his side was a “little off execution” in the match.
“We looked at the game and looked at the 10 overs from 11 to 20, and as much as we would’ve loved to bowl better, you have to give credit to Shivam Dube and Robin Uthappa for the way they played and hit those amazing cricket shots,” said Bangar.
“We were a little off execution, but not by much. More so, when we lost those 4 wickets, the way Suyash (Prabhudessai) came in, Shahbaz (Ahmed) and then DK (Dinesh Karthik), we really showed a lot of fight till the very end and that is a good sign to see for RCB,” he added.
He said that the RCB’s coaching group had had conversations with the bowlers, and looked at way to restrict runs.
“We certainly looked at the areas they (bowlers) wanted to bowl and where they ended up bowling (against CSK). From that perspective, we as a coaching group have our conversations with the players and we have sort of picked up areas where we can improve as a bowling group and we are definitely confident of seeing a much better bowling performance in the next game. For me, the process is a lot more important.
“If we are doing our processes right, then the result and the outcome is just around the corner. Our internal focus is ‘how can we play our best cricket; how can we play better than the last game that we have played?'” Bangar said.
–IANS
akm/
