Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower believes that pace was never going to be the only solution at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and said that his team needed “highly skillful” bowlers at the venue. RCB held their nerves to beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Bengaluru by 27 runs to qualify for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, but crashed out of the tournament following a four-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Eliminator in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
“Chinnaswamy has some particular qualities that we need to be able to exploit. You certainly need highly skillful bowlers there. Simply pace is not going to be the answer there,” Flower said at the post-match press conference on Wednesday.
In Photos | RCB’s dream run in IPL 2024 ends with four-wicket loss against RR in Eliminator
“You need skillful, intelligent bowlers and people that can bowl to specific plans at Chinnaswamy. We have all seen how the power game has affected T20 cricket recently. On the batting front, you certainly need to recruit batters with that sort of power that can keep that sort of tempo…," added the Zimbabwean.
After being put into bat by RR, Rajat Patidar (34) top-scored whereas Virat Kohli (33) and Mahipal Lomror (32) also stepped up, but RCB were restricted to 172/8. In reply, RR were in trouble at 112/4 in the 13th over following Dhruv Jurel’s wicket but Shimron Hetmyer and Royan Parag’s 45-run stand for the fifth wicket set the platform for Rajasthan’s win. Flower admitted that RCB were short of a few runs and that 172 wasn’t just enough. “I think the toss was important and you know when there’s significant dew that always makes it a little bit trickier fielding second,” said the 56 year-old.
“I think the Royals bowlers bowled really well. I thought some of their plans worked against our batsmen and so I give them a lot of credit for that. And I think we were a little short on the run side. You know when there’s dew you need a little more than 170. So I thought our bowlers and our fielders really fought hard in the middle but we were just slightly below par today,” continued the former batter.
When asked about recruitment plans ahead of IPL 2025 mega auctions that will take place later this year, Andy Flower was not ready to give a straightforward answer. “As far as recruitment for next year it’s a little bit early to talk about that quite frankly. I don’t really want to talk about that stuff yet. I’m still digesting what’s happened in this game,’ said Flower.
RR will next lock horns against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 2 in Chennai on Friday. The winner of that match will face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Sunday’s final in Chennai.
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