I always like to put bowler under pressure – Rajat Patidar on his match-winning knock against GT

A superlative batting performance from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain, Rajat Patidar, sealed the fate of the first qualifier in Dharamsala. Rajat Patidar laid absolute waste to the bowling unit of Gujarat Titans, hammering 93* off just 33 balls. He clobbered five fours and nine sixes, while scoring at an incredulous rate of 281.82.

Winning the Player of the Match award for his incredible performance, Patidar opened up on the dynamics of the game. Talking at the post-match presentation, RaPa highlighted the blueprint for the RCB bowling unit while reflecting on his own innings that left GT in utter disarray.

Shedding light on the game, Patidar said, “It was a super game for us and the way especially the batsmen dominated in this game, the way everyone was striking with intent, that was good for us. It's not a clear plan (to go after the GT bowlers), but we're ready for it because you have to show some body language that we are coming for you.”

Reflecting on his own batting, Patidar added, “The way of my batting is similar. Starting, I take some few balls, 8-10 balls to see how the wicket is behaving and what the ball is doing. And after that, I have a clear mind that how I have to go about it and I am not worried about the wicket. I always like to put bowler under pressure.”

Decoding RCB’s blueprint with the ball, Patidar added, “To be honest, the wicket was not that easy to go under the ball and hit the long sixes because there was very good bounce and the way bowlers executed their plans, bowled more balls on the stumps, I think that helped. The way GT played till now, I think the three main batsmen was top three and we were clear that we have to get them out in the powerplay and hopefully it worked.”

He concluded by saying, “I was just checking that if we go in the finals and how Romario will bowl in the middle overs, so that was the plan behind it. It will be a good recovery and let's go for the finals.”