Chris Gayle set up the game for RCB, says Robin Uthappa

Pune Warriors India’s opening batsman Robin Uthappa has said that Chris Gayle’s blistering knock of 81 runs set up the game for AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary to finish it off in style.

In a crucial Indian Premier League (IPL) contest on Tuesday, Royal Challengers Bangalore thrashed Pune Warriors by six wickets. Chasing 183, Gayle laid a solid foundation by playing an aggressive knock at the opening position.

AB de Villiers and Tiwary capitalised on a good start and took their side to an emphatic win. Uthappa gave full credit to De Villiers and Tiwary for scoring required 21 runs in the last over, but described that it was Gayle’s superb knock that set up the
game for RCB.

"AB and Saurabh played out of their skins to get [the] required 21 runs in [the] last over. But I thought it was well set up by Gayle," Uthappa said at the post-match press conference.

He added, "The whole team thought we were 10-15 runs short as Bangalore is known for [a] good batting track. If a team had wickets till the end, it could surely reach the target."

The wicket-keeper batsman shared that the Warriors had an idea about Gayle’s ability to change the course of play, but by the time Pune bowlers got him out, the game was already out of their hands.

He explained, "It was important for us to keep Gayle off the strike for as long as possible and try giving singles to push him to the non-striker’s end. We did get him, but by then he had done the damage."

"In a tournament like this, you are going to lose a few games. But you should not allow defeat enter your psyche and bog you down," he insisted.

Although he was disappointed over his team’s embarrassing defeat, he credited his bowlers for taking the game till the final ball of the game.

"I thought our bowlers did well to restrict them till the last over on a very good batting wicket. They are pretty seasoned domestic cricketers and make opportunities count," he uttered.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Apr 18 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry