Ahmedabad: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Simon Katich has defended leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal saying that his place in the side is not under the scanner. Chahal hasn’t had the best of tournaments with the ball in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
In seven games, the leg-spinner has only picked up four wickets at an economy rate of 8.26. As RCB kept losing wickets the Virat Kohli-led side eventually fell 34 runs short on Friday against Punjab Kings.
“We wouldn’t say his spot is under the scanner. Obviously, their spinners bowled a much better length than we did. I guess how the wicket played, it got slower and slower and they assessed it well and bowled a very good length,” Katich said at the post-match press conference.
The 30-year-old attacking leg-spinner conceded only 34 runs in his four overs, taking just one wicket on Friday. “We were off our lengths a little bit. Yuzi fought back well but got off to a slow start in that first over, it’s never easy to play catch up when you have been hit in your first over. I thought Shahbaz (Ahmed) bowled well in trying to claw things back but in the end but 180 was too many on that wicket,” he said.
RCB began their IPL 2021 campaign on a high note and smashed a lot of records in the first four games they played. For the first time in their IPL history, RCB went on to win four consecutive games in IPL.
In the last three games, RCB have lost 2 games. The only game that they won in these last three fixtures was against Delhi Capitals (DC) and that too, by just a margin of 1 run. In both of these games, they have been completely outplayed.
Asked if the emphasis is given to net run-rate while planning and executing strategies, Katich said, “Our net run-rate took a hit today, but Punjab, I think, played the conditions better. They assessed the situation well with the bat and got to a very good total. Obviously, we lost our way in the middle of the innings and probably left our run (rate) a bit too late.”
