Gayle set up the game for de Villiers, Tiwary: Uthappa
18 April 2012 6:27 PM GMT
Pune Warriors India opener Robin Uthappa felt that the hurricane innings of 81 by Royal Challengers Bangalore opener Chris Gayle set up the game for AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary to finish it off in the last ball of the IPL match.
Chasing a target of 183 for victory, Chris Gayle came up with a phenomenal hitting, followed by brilliant batting at the rear by Saurabh Tiwary 36* and AB de Villiers 33* that helped Bangalore beat Pune by six wickets on Monday.
'AB and Saurabh played out of their skins to get required 21 runs in last over. But I thought it was well set up by Gayle,' said Uthappa at the post-match press conference. Uthappa also said that the Pune were 15 runs short on a good batting track.
'The whole team thought we were 10-15 runs short as Bangalore is known for good batting track. If a team had wickets till the end, it could surely reach the target,' he added.
The wicketkeeper-batsman said that Pune Warriors had a plan for Gayle as they knew his ability to turn the game around in one or two overs but by the time they could get him out the damage was already done.
'It was important for us to keep Gayle off the strike for as long as possible and try giving singles to push him to the non-strikers end. We did get him but by then he had done the damage,' said Uthappa.
Chasing a target of 183 for victory, Chris Gayle came up with a phenomenal hitting, followed by brilliant batting at the rear by Saurabh Tiwary 36* and AB de Villiers 33* that helped Bangalore beat Pune by six wickets on Monday.
'AB and Saurabh played out of their skins to get required 21 runs in last over. But I thought it was well set up by Gayle,' said Uthappa at the post-match press conference. Uthappa also said that the Pune were 15 runs short on a good batting track.
'The whole team thought we were 10-15 runs short as Bangalore is known for good batting track. If a team had wickets till the end, it could surely reach the target,' he added.
The wicketkeeper-batsman said that Pune Warriors had a plan for Gayle as they knew his ability to turn the game around in one or two overs but by the time they could get him out the damage was already done.
'It was important for us to keep Gayle off the strike for as long as possible and try giving singles to push him to the non-strikers end. We did get him but by then he had done the damage,' said Uthappa.
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