Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach Mike Hesson has recently revealed that he asked the young RCB opener Devdutt Padikkal to ‘take the initiative’ during the second strategic timeout against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday.
Padikkal was seen struggling for fluency against SRH in Abu Dhabi. He scored 41 in 52 balls, scoring at a strike rate of under 80 as well. He was also involved in well-set Glenn Maxwell’s run-out (40 off 25) after a mix-up. However, Hesson admitted that he asked Padikkal to lift his strike rate after Maxwell’s exit so there would be less pressure on the new batsman.
But, he was dismissed in the 17th over and they lost by four runs in the chase. While he was asked what exactly he told Padikkal during the second strategic timeout, Hesson shared it at the post-match conference.
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He said: “The fact that Maxi was going so well, it was a matter of playing second fiddle a little bit and rotating the strike. And he played that role really nicely. But as we saw, it got harder to score and harder to time. A few dot balls built up. The second timeout was round about the 15th over. It was more about, ‘Dev, you need to take the initiative here and take that pressure off the new batter.”
He continued: “He played a couple of good shots and then holed out. He wasn’t quite able to flick the switch when he wanted. But it was a tough surface and it was an important innings for us, for the other guys to play around. But yes, he wasn’t quite able to get us over the line.”
Meanwhile, RCB promoted all-rounder Dan Christian to No. 3 in the last two games but he failed to perform as well. While explaining the experiment, Mike Hesson said that they wanted to score quickly to ease the pressure on the other batters as well. RCB will take on Delhi Capitals (DC) in Dubai on Friday, October 8 in their final league fixture.
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Hesson said: “We felt that the powerplay was probably the easiest time to score. So we gave Dan Christian a bit of a license in the last couple of games – just to go out, try and attack and get us ahead of the game. Obviously, it hasn’t worked on either occasion.”
“Everything you do doesn’t come off. It’s something that we will look at. We are pretty clear about the roles that we want people to play. Maxi does a good job post the powerplay and AB owns the back half of the innings for us. That experience is critical and has helped us get over the line in a number of games,” Mike Hesson concluded.
