Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) spinner Shahbaz Ahmed was delighted to be able to help his team’s closely-fought 6-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their second game in the ongoing 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) on Wednesday (April 14).
The all-rounder bowled the match-winning spell on Wednesday, dismissing Jonny Bairstow (12), Manish Pandey (38), and Abdul Samad (0) to help RCB beat SRH by 6 runs in an IPL 14 clash in Chennai.
When Shahbaz came to bowl in the 17th over, the SRH were at 115/2 and they could manage only 1 run against the left-arm spinner while losing three key wickets on Wednesday.
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After the game, Shahbaz, who returned with the figures of 3-7 in his two overs, revealed that he was brought back into the RCB bowling attack late because David Warner stayed long at the crease.
In the 14th over of SRH’s innings, Kyle Jamieson sent Warner back to the pavilion and then the skipper Virat Kohli introduced when the right-handers Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow were at the crease and the left-arm spinner paid off the trust shown by his skipper by delivering match-winning spell.
Ahmed said in a video shared by RCB on Twitter: “It was a nervous situation, Warner played so long that's why I got the 17th over but the wicket was helping as it was offering grip and the captain knew that. Those two overs changed the game for us. I'm happy to contribute to my team's victory.”
Meanwhile, Harshal Patel also shared his experience by saying, “I was very clear about my plans. I knew what I wanted to do. I was confident that I will be able to execute it. It was just one of those errors that happened and luckily we got out of the other side of the game.”
The pacer added, “Every time you bag those two points you get the satisfaction. We have made some errors in this game as well but it's all about getting better and focusing on the next clash now.”
On the other hand, RCB’s Director of Cricket Mike Hesson said Harshal's first over gave them the idea that which lengths are going to work on the Chepauk wicket against SRH.
Hesson said: “Harshal's first over it went for four and it just showed that if you take the pace off the ball, you hit those good lengths that we are still in the game. We needed an over like that just to know we could crunch it down and then we just started to squeeze, squeeze and squeeze.”
Noteworthy, RCB will next face Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on April 18.
(With ANI Inputs)
