Ray Jennings and Stuart Binny reflected the happy space that their respective teams occupy currently in the IPL. Jennings, the Royal Challengers Bangalore coach, and Binny, the Rajasthan Royals all-rounder, spoke to the media on the eve of Saturday’s big-clash.
Back in his home town, Binny said he had no qualms in taking on RCB.
“Karnataka is my home. RCB is just a franchise,” he said.
Excerpts
Captaincy chronicles
Jennings: Virat (Kohli) understands that he does have a hot head and he also understands that he needs to look at that. Virat’s not a stupid cricketer. He is a smart guy and he has a vision to captain India.
I think Indian cricket, if they are smart, they need to get a group of people around him, and mentor him, and in 3-4 years’ time, you have got an unbelievable cricketer with a good cricket brain, and he leads from the front.
What more can you have?
Binny: He (Rahul Dravid) has a big influence. He is a lot more flexible. In the last game, he didn't go into bat, showing our batting doesn’t revolve around him.
Having a guy like Rahul bhai helps, especially since T20 is all about pressure.
Team fortunes
Jennings: The news is everything revolves around (Chris) Gayle, Kohli and (AB) de Villiers. Last IPL, everything revolved around Gayle.
I don’t mind if it is three players. We might surprise you tomorrow where somebody else comes to the party. We actually have a good enough group of players to handle pressure.
A guy like (Saurabh) Tiwary comes back into the equation. He will definitely be an option for selection.
Binny: We are a very relaxed team. We don’t have guys who can demolish teams in T20 cricket, but we are a unit that is very balanced.
I wouldn't say we are underdogs.
