Brendon McCullum 38 runs on 28 balls against KKR. (Source: BCCI)
After the six-wicket defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders at home on Sunday, RCB’s Brendon McCullum said that the side missed the in-form batsman AB de Villiers, who was ruled out due to a viral infection. Speaking to reporters at the press conference, the former New Zealand international said, “We definitely missed AB de Villiers. He is probably the best player in the world and one of the best we have seen in the history of the game, so for him to be absent was a huge blow for us,” he said.
The 36-year old further expressed hopes that the South African explosive batsman could make a return in RCB’s next game against the Mumbai Indians. “He is desperate to get out there, so hopefully he will be back in the next game. He is such a key player for us, and such a good leader. A good man to have around,” he said.
In spite of setting a tricky target of 176, Bangalore were unable to defend the total. McCullum blamed the fielding effort from the team and said that too many dropped catches cost their side the match. “I thought the way we bowled in the first 6 overs, the scoreboard didn’t reflect how well we executed our plans. (But) we had our chances, we dropped too many catches. We were good with the bat and good with the ball but in the field it was disappointing. Unfortunately, you can’t be like this in this competition,” he said.
The right-hand batsman further said that the fielders did not back the bowlers who did a terrific job in the middle. “If you look at the figures, then it tells (they tell) a different story. But if you look at the way we bowled, the areas we bowled at, the way we created the chances we did well. This is probably the best first 10 overs that we’ve bowled as a group for a while. We had our chances and didn’t take our chances. We can’t be harsh on bowlers, we should have backed them up with our fielding,” he said.
McCullum further said that KKR were lucky after both their opening batsmen were given a lifeline due to dropped catches. “It can sometimes happen when the guys are trying to free their arms, if we had got early wickets then I think the result would have been different,” he said.
With most of RCB’s remaining fixtures in away territory, the Virat Kohli-led side might have a difficult task at hand of making it through the playoffs. The side have only won two matches out of 8, and are currently at the second place from the bottom in the table. “We’re going to go on the road soon, and it’ll be nice to get a win before we get on the road. We’re going to have to do it tough, and that’s our fault because we didn’t get the results earlier. We have to keep focus on the prize, keep performing and hope some amount of luck comes our way,” McCullum said.
RCB will face Mumbai Indians in a home fixture on Tuesday.