Published: Apr 28, 2017, 11:15 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 28, 2017, 11:42 AM (IST)
Gujarat Lions (GL) folded Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)’s innings for 134 in their own den on Thursday before Aaron Finch made a mockery of the small chase. His whirlwind knock, 34-ball 72, assisted GL to post an easy victory over hapless RCB in 13.5 overs and move to the sixth spot whereas RCB have succumbed to the seventh position. Finch stated that he is content with his batting position and expressed that GL are confident of making to the playoffs. GL lost a few games in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 due to poor performance in some of the departments, but displayed a polished performance against RCB as per the Australian. Full Cricket Scorecard: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs Gujarat Lions (GL) IPL 2017, Match 31 at Bengaluru
Revealing the strategy of the side behind the chase, Finch said, “In small run chase, you can make the mistake of just trying to bat slow and before you know the run-rate can be over 7, 8 or 9. It was a conscious effort from the side to go out and attack the game. Generally, in a small chase like that, probably 8 times out of 10 you get over the line anyway. We tried to get well ahead of the run-rate. If something did happen, we had (Ravindra) Jadeja, James Faulkner and Dinesh Karthik still to come. If something went wrong, we had players to pick up the pieces.”
Speaking on his batting position, Finch said, “I don’t mind batting anywhere. Today was more of a match up against the opposition. We knew they would bring in (Samuel) Badree early on. Chahal has been bowling in the powerplay. It was a case of having a left-hander at the top. Brendon McCullum has been in fantastic form. But yeah, I do like opening. The field is open for often, but like I said I am happy to bat anywhere.”
GL had RCB reeling at 22 for 3 inside the first 5 overs. With some disciplined bowling and fielding, GL never allowed RCB to build their innings. Impressed with his side’s clinical show in the field, Finch stated, “Anytime you take wickets in the powerplay, it is a huge bonus. When you get Virat (Kohli) early, (Chris) Gayle early and we were lucky to get AB (de Villiers) with a run-out. When you are under pressure, there has been some misfields and couple of catches go down in the past but today was a pretty polished performance. We saw some young quicks like Nathu (Singh) and Basil (Thampi) really stand up with the new ball against some of the best players to have ever played this format of the game. But then Andrew Tye, (James) Faulkner to come in on the back, Jaddu and Ankit Soni to bowl beautifully on his debut shows that it was a really polished performance.”
With the battle for the playoff berths heating up, Finch concluded by saying, “We are still very confident that we can make the playoffs. Last year we won 6 of our first 7 games. We are probably in a position now that we need to win 5 of our last 6 games. We know we have got a good side, but time will tell.”
