IPL 2021: “Our execution was a lot better today” - Chris Morris
Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Chris Morris has said that his team's bowlers executed their plans adeptly in their six-wicket triumph over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
RR beat KKR at the same venue where the former were trounced by ten wickets by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their previous encounter.
Chris Morris was the star performer for RR against KKR on Saturday, producing fabulous figures of 4 for 23. Reflecting on his team’s impressive win, Chris Morris said that the RR bowlers got things right on the day, elaborating:
“We knew we were playing on the 10-wicket loss to RCB wicket [sic]. There was a reason why we chose to bat second. It does tend to speed up at night, which I think it did. Regarding the slower balls, you as a bowling side always tend to bowl a slower ball in the first six overs to see if it grips. If it does, that’s when we start doing it more and more. Our execution was a lot better today in terms of hitting our lengths. Getting our execution of yorkers and bowling our slower balls, we were a lot better in that.”
On how RR picked themselves after their demoralising loss against RCB, Chris Morris revealed that they went back to the drawing board. He explained in this regard:
“It is very easy to go down the dark route when you get beaten by ten wickets. But you have got to take your hats off and say 'well played' to the players who got 100 and 70 not out. Next day, we were back to the drawing board. As a team, we had a good discussion about what our motivation is. And the boys pulled it up. It was the most fun I have had on the cricket field for a while. In the first seven overs, we were having an absolute blast out there.”
All of us are leaders in the team: Chris Morris
In the absence of Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes, Chris Morris has been thrust into the role of the leader of the RR pace attack. According to the all-rounder, though, everyone in the team is a leader in some way or the other. Chris Morris explained:
“All of us are leaders in the team. Jaydev (Unadkat) has played quite a few IPLs. Chetan (Sakariya) is obviously playing his first, but he was a net bowler for us at RCB last year, so I have spend a little bit of time with him. Shiv (Shivam Dube) has played a lot of cricket, and so has Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman). We are all leaders in our own way. As a bowler, you have got to be a leader in your own sense. We have got a lot of cool heads in the team to come and give us advice or calm us down.”
Batting first after losing the toss, KKR managed only 133-9 against RR as Chris Morris claimed four. However, captain Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 42 took RR home in 18.5 overs.