Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were motoring at one stage during their 227 run chase against Chennai Super Kings on Monday. RCB skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell were going hammer and tongs with little leeway for the CSK bowlers at the ‘small’ M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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It was until Maxwell got a top edge and skied it not far away from the centre of the pitch. MS Dhoni covered the short distance and held on to break the 126 run partnership.
Next over, Faf du Plessis did much of the same and once again a top edge flew many a miles in the air. Dhoni moved towards the square leg region and completed the catch without fuss.
Later, Devon Conway, who starred with the bat, said if there’s someone you hope to have under the ball it is MS Dhoni. “Those (Faf and Maxwell) were very tough catches because it is not easy to catch balls that go straight up in the dark night. I was very lucky to have MS (Dhoni) with the gloves on because if there is any person you want to take those tough chances, he’s probably your guy. it was good for us (to) break the momentum of the innings and ultimately helped us win the match,” said Conway.
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The dismissal, and eventually the win, would have pleased Dhoni who had failed to catch a simpler Faf du Plessis catch when he was on zero. The lacklustre display in the field, Conway believes, could well have been caused by the pressure of chasing the massive target.
“No one tries to drop catches on purpose, these things happen. I don’t know if there was pressure on the fielders or what it was. Thankfully, it wasn’t costly for us but we’ve got to keep practicing under pressure, take those half opportunities. Thankfully, we bowled well and that helped repair (the damage from) those dropped catches.
“Before we went on to the field, MS said we are going to be put under pressure at times. The momentum that they (RCB) had was brilliant. Faf and Glenn put us under pressure but we always felt that by having 200-plus on the board, if we get a couple of wickets we could always bounce back.
“So, for our bowlers it was clear — be patient and when the opportunity comes you just take them with both hands.”
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Conway, who scored 83 runs, sounded an alarm for opposition teams by saying that CSK batters are targeting strike rates of 200-plus to put the other side out of reckoning. Monday was one such day when CSK scored 226/6. Besides the New Zealander, Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube also played a pivotal role with the bat.
“Tonight was a really good surface to bat on, so for us to get those big totals it’s about trying to create a strike rate of around 200-plus,” said Conway in the post-match press conference.
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“I didn’t manage to achieve that (200-plus rate) but some of the work done by the other players, like Ajinkya (37 runs, 185 strike rate), Dube (52 runs, 192.59 strike rate), Rayudu (14 runs, 233.33 strike rate) and Moeen Ali (19 runs, 211.11 strike rate) in the end, they all chipped in with really good strike rates and that’s what got us to a very competitive total.
“That’s probably the method on this kind of wicket where it’s really good to bat,” added Conway, who scored at a strike rate of 184.44.
‘Spidercam an issue’
Conway rued the players struggled in dealing with the shadow caused by the hovering spider cams. He said it shouldn’t come to a point where technology interferes with the match.
“It (interference) happened a couple of times where the ball had got very close to the spider cam as well as the wires, that can obviously put a fielder off. I thing Faf stepped away a couple of times because the shadows of the spider cam was in his way. It’s obviously a little bit testing for guys.
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“It’s nice to have that technology to show different angles of the game but there come a point where (it) can’t get too involved and interfere with the game. MS (Dhoni) was probably trying to speak to the umpires, saying ‘don’t get too close to the action and try to avoid too much (of what’s) going on,”said Conway.
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