Royal Challengers Bengaluru assistant coach Malolan Rangarajan admitted that Gujarat Giants was by far the better side as it beat RCB by six wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
This was the defending champion’s third loss on the trot, continuing its struggle to notch up a win in front of its home crowd.
“In every season, there’s always a game like this one. And it’s unfortunate for us that it has come after two consecutive losses,” Malolan told reporters after the match.
RCB accumulated just 125 runs on the board after batting first as the Giants rode on skipper Ashleigh Gardner’s half-century to victory.
“I think we were completely outplayed and we need to acknowledge that. We were good in the fielding department but wickets were the name of the game today,” Malolan added.
ALSO READ | Mumbai Indians looks to settle scores against Delhi Capitals in top-of-the-table clash
RCB was struggling at 26/3 after six overs, which was the lowest PowerPlay score by any side this season. And the coach felt that the strip used for the match didn’t help the ball come onto the bat fast enough. “The conditions that we have, they are unpredictable. Today, it [the wicket] was slightly slower.”
So far in this leg, the Chinnaswamy has favoured the chasing side, but losing the coin flip for a third consecutive match and batting first didn’t help RCB’s cause. However, Malolan doesn’t think that the matches at the Bengaluru ground depend on the toss, which was not the case in Vadodara.
“It has been an even playing field here at the Chinnaswamy and it’s not toss-oriented. There’s something for the bat and the ball. In Vadodara, they were all chases. I can’t particularly pinpoint why chasing teams are winning here, but today is fairly simple. We just didn’t have enough runs on the board,” he said.