IPL 2017: “Our Bowler Bowled Beautifully,” Says Steven Smith
Apr 29, 2017 at 8:27 PM
For once, it looked like the total of 158 will not be easy to defend on that pitch but once the game started after the interval, it had many surprises for both the teams, as Pune bowlers were finding success, whereas, RCB batsmen were finding it difficult to bat on.
As a result, the home bowlers made merry and at the end of the day, they successfully defended 158, which was a gettable one.
The stepping stone of the win was laid by RPS batsmen as once again, Rahul ‘Consistent’ Tripathi performed with the bat, as the hard-hitting player played an innings of 37 off 28 deliveries. He did not let RCB bowlers dominate and along with Steve Smith, kept the run rate float.
After his dismissal, it was skipper Smith, who himself took the charge and started minting runs alongside experienced batsman Manoj Tiwary. Both the players were playing their shots and weren’t restricting themselves. The experienced duo shared 50 runs for the third wicket.
Smith wicket’s though slowed run-rate, as the pair of MS Dhoni and Tiwary could just add 49 runs in last 37 balls. It looked like slowing down at the last moment might affect RPS in the later part but it proved to be a winning total.
Steven Smith was elated with his team efforts and after the win showered praise on his team and said –
Steven Smith:
“It’s nice to have got on a little streak here. We didn’t know what was a good score to be honest. It was a complete performance. Maybe we were 10-15 runs short, Bangalore have quality batsmen, but I thought the bowlers bowled beautifully. Tripathi and Tiwary are big players for us going forward. Three overs of dot balls from Ferguson. He executed exactly as we wanted him to.”