SHARJAH: Despite the loss against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) all-rounder Chris Morris said that he is proud of his teammates for giving their all in the game and finishing the match close.
RCB lost the hard-fought game against Punjab at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium by eight wickets. After opting to bat first, Virat Kohli’s 48 and Morris’s late quickfire knock of 25 off 8 balls guided them to 171/6 in their 20 overs.
“We had enough, maybe we leaked few boundaries, maybe our gameplan was slightly wrong but for us to get the end like that to get it to the last over to the last ball quite proud of the boys for sticking there when the game was completely gone by the time second last over was bowled,” Morris said in the post-match press conference.
Chasing 172, Rahul scored 61 runs off 49 balls while Gayle smashed a well-made 53 to hand KXIP their second win in the event.
In the end, KXIP needed two from the last over but Yuzvendra Chahal made it an uphill task for the batsmen as the match came down to 1 run from one ball. However, Nicholas Pooran whacked a six on the last ball and KXIP took a sigh of relief.
Morris revealed the reason behind sending Washinton Sundar and Shivam Dube ahead of AB de Villiers.
“Probably with the spinners, the left-right combination is quite difficult for a spinner or any bowler to settle. We saw it with KL and Gayle at the end, it was quite difficult to keep consistent lines and lengths but sometimes it pays off and sometimes it does not,” he said.
Talking about his knock Morris said, “I did well enough. Obviously, the wicket was slower towards the end. When I come in to bat it was about just hit the ball whether the wicket is slow or not hit the ball as hard as you can and hopefully connects.”
RCB will now lock horns against Rajasthan Royals at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday, October 17. (ANI)