IPL 2016: Shane Watson talks about RCB's thrilling win over Kings XI Punjab
Shane Watson won the Man of the Match award for his brilliant figures of 2/22, which took his team Royal Challengers Bangalore home last night. RCB won the match against Kings XI Punjab by one run in a nail-biting last over thriller.
Punjab were well on course to win the match, all credit to their skipper Murali Vijay’s exhilarating knock of 89 from 57. RCB skipper Virat Kohli would have breathed a sigh of relief when Vijay was caught on 89 off Watson’s last ball in the 17 over.
Marcus Stoinis made sure Punjab were right in the game until the last ball of the game and although Chris Jordan was very expensive in yesterday’s game, he just managed to pull-off a win for RCB on the last ball.
Also read: Kings XI Punjab's Marcus Stoinis says IPL has helped better his game
Talking about the last-ball thriller, Australian all-rounder Watson spoke in the post-match presentation about his mindset while bowling in crunch situations.
"At the top of the mark, I want to be clear about what I want to bowl and have no doubts. Then (I) think about how to execute when I'm running in. It's about trying to preempt what the batsman will do," as reported by Cricbuzz.
Chris Jordan has always been a death bowler, even for England: Yuzvendra Chahal
Kohli had to pick between Varun Aaron and Chris Jordan, both having given away 25 and 37 runs respectively in their 3 overs each, to bowl the last over. The captain chose the Englishman to get the job done. RCB leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal feels his captain believed in Jordan to win the match for them.
"Virat bhaiya was telling him to bowl slower ones on the leg, and a bit short of a length.
"Chris Jordan has always been a death bowler, even when he bowls for England. They were saying that you needed to bowl slower ones or a bit short, because the legside boundary is much bigger and its very difficult to clear it," Chahal said after the conclusion of the thriller.
Even after being hit for a six off the third ball of his last over, Jordan kept his composure and bowled a dot ball right after. The last two balls went for 2 runs each and RCB won the match by 1 run. Virat Kohli appreciated the Englishman’s efforts in the post-match presentation.
"Credit to Jordan, everyone has off days. But he was able to hold his composure off the final two balls," said Kohli right after the team's victory.
Stoinis rues missed opportunities
Kings XI Punjab’s all-rounder, Marcus Stoinis was disappointed that he could not score the last run for his team and win the match in spite of his 34 not out off 22 balls. He said that missed opportunities cost them the match.
"There are always things that when you're looking at the game afterwards, you wish you did a little bit different.
"After the third ball where I moved around and tried to flick it towards fine leg, I just sort of thought, 'just relax and stay still'. The pressure was on both of us in that situation, it's a tough moment in the game. The aim was to hopefully get a bad ball and put it away. So, I had the opportunity there, but unfortunately just missed out," a dejected Stoinis told the media.