Lockie Ferguson finished with 4-1-7-2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. (Source: IPL/BCCI)
Playing just his second IPL game of the season, Lockie Ferguson had his task cut out against a Royal Challengers Bangalore side known for its superstar batting lineup. With the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle in their midst, RCB are usually a force to reckon with. However, that has not been the case this year. And on Saturday, Ferguson added to RCB’s misery with a man of the match performance. (Results | Fixtures | Points Table)
In his first match, two weeks back, he went for 44 runs without picking a wicket against Gujarat Lions. But on Saturday, bowling to the likes of Kohli and de Villiers, the New Zealander emerged on top with wickets of AB and Stuart Binny. To make his effort even more compliment worthy, his final figures read 4-1-7-2.
ALSO READ | RPS vs RCB: Bangalore suffer another collapse, RPS win by 61 runs
Limiting RCB to another dismal batting show that produced 96/9 and a 61 run win, Pune can take pride in their bowling effort while defending 158 runs. The team doesn’t boast of high profile bowlers or overly experienced lot either. Imran Tahir is arguably their biggest bowling option who was only signed right before the tournament began.
“Bowlers have stuck to very simple plans and trying to nail those and have the right field. Fortunately it has come off in games. Proud of how the bowling has gone about the business. We don’t necessarily have world beaters, we’ve got the likes of Imran Tahir who is a world beater and amazing himself,” he said in the post match press conference.
“The other guys in the group are all doing their part and tonight we came off with a win with everyone doing their job well,” he added.
Hard for a captain to speak after a performance like that, says Virat Kohli
With the win, Pune have consolidated their spot at fourth in the table and boosted their hopes with a heavy surge in net run rate. “We take a lot of confidence from the win. I haven’t been around for a long time so I can’t say I’ve got a whole lot of experience but you have to take the confidence through every match.”
MS Dhoni produced a late surge for RPS to fatten their first innings score to 157.
‘Vintage’ MS Dhoni hits a six with brute force against Bangalore, watch video
“Our group of guys get along really well on and off the park. We’re having a lot of fun and winning games and hope we can keep that going towards the final. T20s can go up and down quite a lot so hope we can keep this run going,” he said cautiously.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
3 min read
