IPL 2021: During the team’s second strategic timeout in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach Mike Hesson claimed that he instructed Devdutt Padikkal to ‘take the initiative.’
However, During RCB’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match against SRH in Abu Dhabi, Padikkal battled with fluidity. With a strike rate of under 80, the left-hander scored 41 runs in 52 balls. Following a mix-up, he was also involved in the run-out of the well-set Glenn Maxwell (40 off 25).
Following Maxwell’s departure, Hesson revealed that he requested Padikkal to increase his strike rate to relieve pressure on the incoming batter. The RCB opener, on the other hand, was dismissed in the 17th over while going for a big shot, and his team fell four runs short in the chase.
“The fact that Maxi was going so well, it was a matter of playing second fiddle a little bit and rotating the strike. And he played that role really nicely. But as we saw, it got harder to score and harder to time. A few dot balls built up. The second timeout was round about the 15th over. It was more about, ‘Dev, you need to take the initiative here and take that pressure off the new batter.'” he said
“He played a couple of good shots and then holed out. Thus, He wasn’t quite able to flick the switch when he wanted. But it was a tough surface and it was an important inning for us, for the other guys to play around. But yes, he wasn’t quite able to get us over the line.” he added
Royal Challengers Bangalore
In the last two games, RCB elevated all-rounder Dan Christian to No. 3. Christian got out on his first ball against Punjab and only scored 1 against SRH, proving that the move was a complete failure.
Hesson explained the experiment by saying that the team intended to get some early runs from him to relieve pressure on the other hitters.
Read more: The 3 best batters key to India’s hopes of winning the competition: T20 World Cup 2021
Visit also: Dubai International Cricket Stadium pitch history and T20 records: CSK vs PBKS in the IPL 2021