Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals
Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, feels Ravichandran Aswhin handled the
match situation really well by 'retiring out' at the right time but the Sri
Lankan great conceded that he erred in not sending Riyan Parag ahead of Rassie
van der Dussen.
The Royals became the first
team in IPL history to employ the 'retired out' tactic as Ashwin went back to
the dugout despite being 28 not out during their game against LSG on Sunday.
"It was the right time to
do that," Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference. "Ashwin
himself was asking from the field as well and we had discussed just before that
as to what we would do."
South African van der Dussen,
who was playing his first match of the season, was sent at number four ahead of
Shmiron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin and the out-of form Parag.
However, he was dismissed
cheaply for four, while Parag hit a crucial six in the last over to help RR get
closer to the 170-run mark.
"As the coach I got one
call wrong not sending Riyan Parag ahead of Rassie van der Dussen and holding
Rassie back so we couldn't get the full benefit of Riyan."
"But how Ashwin handled
that situation, walking in under pressure, he batted, supported the team and
then finally sacrificed himself in terms of retiring himself out and then
backed it up with a magnificent bowling effort."
With LSG requiring 15 runs off
the last over, pacer Kuldeep Sen performed tremendously under pressure and the
Sri Lankan legend was all praise for the rookie.
"I had no conversation
with Kuldeep before the last over. It was Sanju, Jos and the other players
around him that supported him. We had pretty simple plans in terms of bowling
at the death.
"I just want to say how
impressed everyone, especially I am with how Kuldeep Sen handled his first
game; how he bowled, how he thinks... He bowled the hardest over under pressure
and did an excellent job for us." (PTI)
No comments:
Post a Comment