New Delhi, April 6 – According to former England batsman Kevin Pietersen, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar's unbeaten 48 and his aggressive batting were the key factors in their 43-run victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Patidar scored a quick 48 off 19 balls at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, helping RCB post a massive 250/3. He smashed six sixes and a four, maintaining a strike rate of 252.63, along with an unbeaten 99-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Tim David, who scored 70 off 25 balls.
"You could see the confidence in Rajat Patidar. After the IPL, Dinesh Karthik has spoken about how hard he worked on his game. He wasn't satisfied with just winning the title. He wanted to contribute more. Tim David's innings was outstanding, but for me, Patidar's knock was the turning point," Pietersen said on JioStar.
Former India captain Anil Kumble highlighted that the struggles of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson have hampered their batting performance, adding that the five-time champions need to address this issue before it becomes too late.
"This is a major concern for Chennai. If their two most experienced batters, Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad, haven't performed well in the first three matches, it becomes a serious challenge. The rest of the batting lineup, apart from Samson and MS Dhoni, is relatively young.
"You need at least one of your experienced batters to step up and deliver a big innings. Unfortunately, in the first three games, things haven't gone Chennai's way. It's still early in the season, but they will need to tighten things up quickly," he added.