Jaipur: After their disappointing 37-run loss at home against Mumbai Indians, Royals skipper, Shane Warne was less than pleased with his team's under-par performance. He attributed the loss to a variety of factors including Sachin’s dropped catch and the poor start to his team’s innings.
Excerpts
On how the match panned out for RR: Yeah obviously, now that was a crucial catch [the one where Sachin Tendulkar was dropped by Dole], but those things happen in a game. They were just 115 off 16 overs, we thought we could restrict them. Obviously that catch of Sachin would have made a huge difference. But I thought the way we responded was disappointing, you know those things happen in cricket, dropped catches and things like that - they happen. But we still conceded 60 runs off our last four overs and I think that gave Mumbai a lot of momentum. Even if we finish off well and they get 10 an over for the last four, it gives them 155. So we go for 60 odd runs in the last four, with Sid Trivedi and Shane Watson, who are very good bowlers, but that can happen in this game, it was disappointing. Still I thought they had the momentum, but the way we started our first six overs really cost us. We got three run-outs in our first eight overs, we just didn’t get off to a very good start. We batted deep tonight - Abhishek Raut, [Aditya] Dole can bat at No. 8 and 9, but unfortunately the game was gone by then. It’s our first loss in Jaipur - never a good time for a loss, it had to come at some stage. But there’s never a good time to lose one but especially now [since] we go back in the pack with everybody else.
On whether Mumbai Indians’ bowling made the difference tonight: I think the difference was the way we finished our bowling innings - four overs for 60 runs, when they should have only made 150, maybe 155. And our start [while batting] our first six overs, yeah they’ve [MI] got a good bowling side, they are a good team, that’s why they’ve won eight games. But I thought 170 was about par, and I thought they just had the momentum with the finish they had, and our start was just poor. It’s our worst start we’ve had for a few games, losing a couple of wickets, Michael Lumb and then Naman Ojha, then Shane Watson in a space of five or six overs was just - it really hurt us.
On sending Yusuf Pathan in at No. 7: Yeah look Yusuf - wee like to use him at the right time and he’s such a wonderful player, a wonderful striker. Problem was we lost so many wickets, we needed a partnership, a clever partnership to get together and then send Yusuf in. And we started to get that but because of our start he had a lot to do, but there’s one player in the IPL who can come out and have two big overs and suddenly we are back in the game. The way their quicks were bowling - they started with [some] short stuff - we wanted Adam Voges to go in there at No. 5 rather than Yusuf. We just lost too many wickets, we just needed a partnership to settle down and then for Yusuf to come in. So I don’t think it was too late for him at all. If he got going in 5 overs or so then he could have turned the game around.
On Sachin Tendulkar taking the game away from RR: Yeah look Sachin you know is the best player I’ve played against in my 20 years of playing, I said that at the start. And obviously that dropped catch hurt us at that stage. As I said, I think we lost the match in the last four overs going for 60 runs and our first six overs when we were three for eleven. So I think that’s where the game was won and lost.
On whether the Royals felt at home in Jaipur: We love playing here, the players enjoy playing - there are some off-field issues and we’ll leave that to the owners and the RCA [Rajasthan Cricket Association]. We just want to play the game, it’s disappointing that we were told all different things and some of the things that happened were very disappointing for us as well. I think we’ve been very good for Jaipur and I think they’ve been good to us. Some of the issues were very, very disappointing and you know that just shouldn’t happen. Some of the stuff that was forced on us and what happened was - just should never have happened. And I think too many egos [came into play] which was very disappointing, hopefully they can sort that out and allow us players to play somewhere we like playing.
On the bowling strategy against Sachin Tendulkar: Some of the deliveries that were bowled weren’t really the tactics that we were trying, if you looked at the fields. But that can happen in this game - it’s very hard bowling at the end we’ve done extremely well in our last few games. Today we were bowling to someone like Sachin who was set and well in, we can’t afford to give him too many chances - such a great player and those last couple of overs … We probably went for 40 something in the last two overs, that was the difference between 150 and 170. You know it’s a massive difference in scores - 20 runs, it took us five overs to get that many.
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