Having registered five wins on the trot with Chris Gayle playing a significant role in their success, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Daniel Vettori acknowledged that the explosive West Indian batsman's entry into the team has completely changed their fortunes.
"We had started badly, losing three opening games but with Gayle coming in and his opening partnerships with (Tillakaratne) Dilshan, we have been able to put pressure on the opposition. Gayle has been in tremendous form and has bowled well too," said Vettori at the match-eve press conference.
Gayle had destroyed rival bowling attacks with utter disdain with his power-hitting on more than one occasion in the tournament. He has helped the team post big scores. But Vettori disagreed that has shielded the bowlers.
"We had them (Kochi) out for 120 and the bowlers were tested in that match. In fact, they are tested in every match because of shorter boundaries and flat wickets."
Defending Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, whose performance has been below par in IPL 4 so far, the Bangalore skipper said "he bowls economically in the last overs".
"He is a key bowler for us and swung the match for us against Pune Warriors. He bowls economically in the last overs and he and I bear the brunt of the attack."
On his team's chances of reaching the play-offs, Vettori said RCB could reach the knock-out stage but need to improve their fielding.
"With four games remaining, three victories can push us to top two. The current form is satisfying but we need to improve on our fielding. It was fielding which had cost us the few initial matches but with our batting and bowling coming good the confidence has trickled down to fielding too, which has improved," said Vettori.
Speaking about their next match against Rajasthan, Vettori said: "It is an important match and we need to win against Rajasthan Royals to consolidate our position."
"We had started badly, losing three opening games but with Gayle coming in and his opening partnerships with (Tillakaratne) Dilshan, we have been able to put pressure on the opposition. Gayle has been in tremendous form and has bowled well too," said Vettori at the match-eve press conference.
Gayle had destroyed rival bowling attacks with utter disdain with his power-hitting on more than one occasion in the tournament. He has helped the team post big scores. But Vettori disagreed that has shielded the bowlers.
"We had them (Kochi) out for 120 and the bowlers were tested in that match. In fact, they are tested in every match because of shorter boundaries and flat wickets."
Defending Indian pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, whose performance has been below par in IPL 4 so far, the Bangalore skipper said "he bowls economically in the last overs".
"He is a key bowler for us and swung the match for us against Pune Warriors. He bowls economically in the last overs and he and I bear the brunt of the attack."
On his team's chances of reaching the play-offs, Vettori said RCB could reach the knock-out stage but need to improve their fielding.
"With four games remaining, three victories can push us to top two. The current form is satisfying but we need to improve on our fielding. It was fielding which had cost us the few initial matches but with our batting and bowling coming good the confidence has trickled down to fielding too, which has improved," said Vettori.
Speaking about their next match against Rajasthan, Vettori said: "It is an important match and we need to win against Rajasthan Royals to consolidate our position."
© PTI
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