His unbeaten 57-ball 89 shaped Bangalore Royal Challengers' eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab but senior batsman Jacques Kallis on Tuesday gave credit to Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa for the victory.
His unbeaten 57-ball 89 shaped Bangalore Royal Challengers' eight-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab but senior batsman Jacques Kallis on Tuesday gave credit to Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa for the victory.
"Robin (Uthappa) and Manish (Pandey) were brilliant. Their performance allowed me to play my game," said Kallis, who was crowned man-of-the-match today.
The burly South African said they played to a plan to chase down the massive target of 204. "We had a target of achieving 50-60 runs in the five-six overs.
Once we achieved that we knew we were in with a chance of reaching the target," said Kallis. Uthappa, who hit a 21-ball 51, was elated with the victory in front of the home fans.
"It is always great playing at home. I always wanted to score in front of my home crowd. It is nice to ride on the support that we get from the stands," said Uthappa, whose 19-ball innings was laced with four sixes and four boundaries.
Uthappa, who batted at number three, said he was happy to bat up the order as it gives him more time to settle down.
"I definitely prefer batting higher up as I get some time to get going. I prefer it to batting at number six or seven," said Uthappa, who plundered 25 runs off a Sreesanth over. Kings XI Punjab skipper Kumar Sangakkara, meanwhile, refused to read too much into the loss but conceded that bowling is a worry for the Mohali-based outfit.
"It was not a comprehensive defeat in any sense. We scored 200, which they hit back. It was a good wicket which had a lot of carry. I wouldn't read too much into the debacle," he said.
"It (bowling) is a bother. We did well in our first game against Delhi Dare Devils. We need to be consistent with our bowling," Sangakkara added.
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