Kumble regrets missed opportunity

Nagpur: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble did not mince words when speaking to the media after the loss at the hands of Deccan Chargers. Here's more from his interaction with the media.

Excerpts:

On the defeat:

It was just a matter of pressure building, possibly. They (RCB batsmen) could have probably selected better strokes. But I thought, this was a game which was in our hands and we just let things go by.

On playing Jacques Kallis and his approach:

It’s just that he gives you that option of bowling option. But he won us a couple of games. Today he did get stuck (27 off 37 balls). He should have probably gone after the bowling in the first six overs, which didn’t happen. But, you know, it’s just one of those days where he should have moved on. That really put pressure on the guys coming in. And it’s not every day that someone like Robin (Uthappa) can see you through.

On whether Rahul Dravid could have accelerated:

I don’t think so. If he plays properly, people say he is too mild and he is not aggressive. Probably he was the one who gave us the initiative in the first six overs, after losing a wicket off the first ball. He gave us a start, he was the one who was instrumental in putting us on course. And it was just unfortunate that he got out, possibly at the wrong time. But then there was a lot of overs, lot of good batsmen to come through as well. Really disappointing that we were not able to finish.

On inconsistency, a win followed by a loss:

I think that’s definitely a worry, when you have done well in the previous game and you win. And you come here and then Dale Steyn runs in, charges in and then picks up three wickets early on. Then, you restrict Deccan Chargers to 150 on a good wicket. It did get slow but then, you know, it was gettable. And you’re on course till the ninth-10th over, and then you just fell apart. It certainly disappoints the way we have played in the last couple of games.

On whether the big ground made a difference:

It does, the boundaries are big. When you have eight runs an over, nine runs an over, it doesn’t really matter whether the ground is big or small. You still need to play good cricketing shots if you want to clear the boundary. You can’t say that if this match was at Bangalore, then a couple of catches which [they] took on the boundary line would have gone for six. You can’t really talk like that. I mean, you have enough quality and experience in that middle-order that we have. I am sure they have all played in different grounds, probably bigger sizes. And they have won games. It’s just that today they bowled well. Deccan Chargers did bowl well. But we probably allowed them a bit in the middle overs.

On whether scheduling affected the team:

Nothing of that sort will happen. I mean, players are responsible and they know their responsibility. And it’s not that…you are not playing matches back to back. IPL is all about that. And I don’t think that’s a reason. I don’t want to give that as an excuse. It’s just that we didn’t play sensibly in those last seven overs. That was probably the cause for our loss