Choudhary conceded just six runs in the first five balls of the 18th over. (Source: AP)
Despite an impressive bowling performance till the last over, Aniket Choudhary could not take his side Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory against Mumbai Indians on Monday. Mumbai beat Bangalore by five wickets to book their place in the knock out stage. (Results | Fixtures | Points Table)
Searching for the reason for Bangalore’s performance, Choudhary said that his team did not post a big total on the board.
“I don’t think so (when asked was it enough). We batted first and we understood how it behaved. I think if we had bowled more slow balls, we could have stopped them from getting to the target. It was a decent wicket, but we bowled a few bad balls here and there,” he said.
Choudhary conceded just six runs in the first five balls of the 18th over as Bangalore tried to defend 18 off 12 balls. He later said that bowling to Hardik Pandya was probably the match-changing point.
“As far as the last ball is concerned, I was wondering whether to bowl him (Hardik Pandya) the slower one or the fast one. Maybe it was a match-changing point,” Choudhary said.
Choudhary sought AB de Villiers’ advice who told him to go with the hard length. “So I went to and asked him (de Villiers) ‘what should I bowl?’ And he said ‘maybe he is ready for the slower one, so I think you should go with the hard length.'”
“And when someone as great as AB tells you do to something, such a world class player and if he is giving you a suggestion, it’s very hard to go against it. And I thought he is right.”
However the Rajasthan pacer said that captain Virat Kohli thought otherwise and was not happy with his bowling. “And Virat wasn’t happy with what I bowled. He thought I did the wrong thing and I should have bowled full and slow,” he explained.
Choudhary had practiced with Kohli before the start of Test series against New Zealand and called it a good experience. “It was a very good experience, if you are bowling to top Indian batsmen and getting them out, that’s where I got noticed by Virat that I’m from Rajasthan and I am bowling well.”
“Once you bowl to the best and get them out, I don’t think there is a better way of gaining confidence than that. After that whichever domestic competition you go, like when I played Ranji Trophy, I was very confident. It appeared a lot easier then.”
He blamed RCB’s luck for not being able to qualify for the play-offs. “Things didn’t go our way. Things happen quite fast in T20 and when things don’t go your way (the team fails),” he said.
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