Malolan Rangarajan, RCB’s assistant coach, has stated that, while the team is pleased to have Josh Hazlewood back in time for the playoffs, they have sufficient talent this time around to compensate for his absence.
In Short
- Hazlewood has 18 wickets in 10 matches this season
- Rangarajan said that RCB have enough talent waiting in the wings
- RCB will face LSG on May 27 and a win will help them to reach the top two
RCB assistant coach Malolan Rangarajan has said that while the team is happy with the return of Josh Hazlewood, he believes the squad has enough talent this time around. Hazlewood has missed the last two games for RCB as he was nursing a shoulder issue and returned late from Australia.
In an effort to win their first IPL title, Bengaluru have brought in the pacer just before the playoffs. Speaking at the pre-match press conference before the LSG game, Rangarajan said that during Hazlewood’s absence, Lungi Ngidi stepped for the team and they have Nuwan Thushara waiting in the wings. Additionally, the RCB assistant coach stated that Rasikh Salam is an excellent Indian pacer.
Rangarajan stated, “There is no doubt about how good Josh Hazlewood is as a player and what a great impact he has had for us. However, it is also important to remember that in his absence, we played two games, won one, and lost another. Lungi Ngidi had filled in very well and we believe in the strength of the whole squad. There is Nuwan Thushara who is chomping at the pits and even people forget that we have a very talented Indian
RCB’s last game in Lucknow saw them collapse from 173 for 4 to 189 all-out while chasing 230 against SRH. Rangarajan stated that they had open discussions and would not dwell on the outcome. The RCB assistant coach said that they have hopefully addressed the issues ahead of the LSG game.
“After every game, we sit down, we have our honest conversations, constructive feedback. When you are chasing 230, the only thing a batting unit can ask of you is to set it up so that we are looking to chase 60 runs in the final five overs. This is something we need to understand and where Phil Salt is coming from. Beyond that, we certainly could have done better whatever transpired. But again, I am not going to dwell into the result of what happened. We could have handled things better. We had a few issues that we had to deal with.”
“In terms of what was discussed in the meeting, I hope that you will observe that on the ground tomorrow. Like we had a few challenges in M Chinnaswamy Stadium when we played the first few games. I think we have thought of ways we can address what had gone wrong,” said Rangarajan.