IPL5: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/M-Muralitharan-c1864 – Cricket News Update
Sri Lanka’s legendary spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan, said that the absence of Chris Gayle was felt by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 13th game of the Indian Premier League played against the Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium,
Chepauk.
Gayle, the West Indian cricketer, picked up a groin injury while batting. Though, the left-hander managed to bat through his innings and played a valuable knock of 68 runs from 35 deliveries but he was unable to take the field later.
RCB missed Gayle’s bowling and they went on to lose the match by five wickets, despite posting a gigantic total of 205 runs.
Muralitharan held that RCB did not want to risk their key player that is why Gayle did not take the field. He said, “It was so hot and humid compared to Bangalore, so he got cramps while batting. We didn't want to risk him and thought we should give him
enough time to recover for the next match. We definitely missed him because he usually bowls 2-3 overs every match.”
Gayle, who is an indispensable part of RCB, is handy with the ball. Though, he is not a wicket taking bowler, he is economical with his off-spin.
In the absence of Gayle, Bangalore’s bowling options were depleted. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Raju-Bhatkal-c2266 had to share four overs between them and this was what the CSK batsmen exploited. Kohli had a nightmare with the ball and the 19th over of the CSK
innings was bowled by him, which went for 28 runs. This proved to be the turning point in favour of CSK.
Muralitharan backed skipper, Daniel Vettori’s decision of giving Kohli the ball at such a crucial stage. He said, “Raju wasn't tried because he was playing his first match and was quite expensive. We had 42 runs to defend and we thought we could win even
if we were to concede 20 in that over. But it went for 28.”
When asked to comment why the RCB bowlers went soft after scoring a huge total, Muralitharan said, “We were not at all complacent. Both sides fought hard and in the end one side won.”
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