JOIN USExhibiting his skills to perfection and utilising his vast experience in the encounter against Rising Pune Supergiants here on Friday, Shane Watson showcased the enormous value he brings to the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In pursuit of their 186-run target, Pune seemed to have lost their way after the well-set Ajinkya Rahane and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni were back in the hut by the 16th over. With 50 required of the final three overs, not many gave Pune a chance but a brutal assault on Harshal Patel in the 18th over by the hard-hitting Thisara Perera put the game on its head.
Harshal was hammered for 25 runs, with Perera alone smashing 18 of them, as Pune scented an improbable victory. The desperate RCB skipper Virat Kohli handed the ball to his go-to-man Watson and the Australian delivered under immense pressure to prove his class.
Watson went for just four runs and picked up two wickets, including the vital one of Perera to shatter Pune’s hopes. Watson could have added one more to his wickets’ column wicketkeeper KL Rahul not messed up Rajat Bhatia’s offer.
“When Shane bowled the second last over, he knew he had to get him (Perera) out because if he stayed on then they would have probably won the match. We all know what Shane can do with the bat but he won us the game with that over, especially taking that wicket (Perera’s),” said team-mate Kane Richardson.
Watson’s impressive efficiency in T20 cricket makes him a dangerous player in this format and Richardson praised the 34-year-old for his ability to bring in lot of variations to his bowling.
“He stuck to his plan of bowling, the wide yorkers, which didn’t work in his previous over. That’s what class players do. He is one of the best T20 players and he won us the game by taking that wicket.”
RCB’s bowling pales in comparison with their batting might. Except for Watson, none of the bowlers has been consistent and Richardson admitted that there were a lots of areas to improve upon for the Bengaluru bowlers.
“Watson has been really good, leading our bowling attack, telling us what to do. He is really good at changing the pace and mixing it up. We still have a lot of work to do in our bowling and once a couple of bowlers get their confidence back, we should be in a really good place.”