GUWAHATI: Rajasthan Royals’ assistant and fast bowling coach
Shane Bond
sounded confident of the team making a turnaround despite going down to Punjab Kings by five wickets on Wednesday, their fourth straight loss. However, despite their downward spiral towards the end of the league stage after a dream start to the season, Royals have booked a place in the Qualifiers.
“Obviously, we are disappointed.
It is never a great feeling when you are losing games in a row. Then your mind plays back to what if. What if we won against Sunriesrs? But you have to get some perspective too. Even with the four losses in a row, we are second (on the table), we have qualified. It just takes one better game to turn things around and I think we are the capable ones,” assessed the Kiwi.
Heaping praises on their highest scorer of the game and the season, local boy
Riyan Parag
, Bond said, “Riyan has had an amazing season, hasn't he? His promotion to No. 4 really suited him. He’s had a number of years batting in a position that was pretty tough down the order and people forget how young he is. It just takes some time when you’re young. Obviously, I saw how well he played in the domestic tournaments this season, particularly in T20s.”
“I’m proud of him the way he has played so far. I think the team is super excited for him. He’s borne the brunt of some criticism over the last few years in terms of performances and so to put that aside and come out the way he’s played this season, real credit to him for the work he’s put in,” added Bond.
Meanwhile, the
Impact player rule
got Bond’s backing.
“I like the rule, I like seeing sixes, I like seeing runs and I like seeing bowlers put under pressure. The beauty of the game of cricket is that you have to adjust and adapt. Even from last year the batters have done that, the scores have gone up. I love watching it and it still amazes me the quality of hitting in cricket. Bowlers haven’t caught up, they have to plan better, they have to think better and make better decisions,” Bond, himself a former pacer, said.
Were playing for pride only, says Ellis: Punjab pacer
Nathan Ellis
, playing his first game of the season, said after the match, “Coming to the ground we didn’t really know what to do – bat or bowl. But we decided on batting first. Losing the toss wasn’t a desired outcome but I was actually happy that we bowled first, and it gave us the chance to set the tone for the day. I think the position that we are in we were playing for pride today (Wednesday).”
English (US) ·