Kochi Tuskers Kerala captain Mahela Jayawardene was critical of the wicket after his side lost to Deccan Chargers by 55 runs with Ishant Sharma bulldozing his team’s batting line—up with a sensational five—wicket spell.
Citing that the pitch was too much titled in favour of the bowlers, Jayawardene said he was not sure whether it was a perfect T20 wicket.
“I thought this (wicket) probably has touched too much in favour of the bowlers. It is difficult to say if it was a perfect T20 wicket. But I do not want to complain too much because we have to play on all sort of wickets and adapt ourselves and probably we didn’t do that,” said Jayawardene at the post match press—conference Wednesday night.
The former Sri Lankan captain, however, added that the pitches which have something for the bowlers make a Twenty20 contest more interesting.
“First two games against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings were even. They had something for the bowlers. Batsmen could actually challenge themselves,” he said.
He also admitted that it was not the kind of wicket he wanted and also had a discussion with the curator regarding that.
“We saw the wicket. I do not want to go through the discussion I had with the curator. I don’t think it was what we wanted so I will just leave it at that,” said Jayawardene.
Heaping praise on Ishant, who claimed five for 12 to steer the Chargers to victory, Jayawardene said he bowled in good areas.
“It is difficult to point out where we went wrong. When you loose six wickets in the first six overs, it is always going to be tough. And credit should go to them (Deccan Chargers). Ishant bowled very well and in very good areas and created opportunities,” said Jayawardene.
Before Ishant’s fiery spell, Chargers skipper Kumar Sangakkara scored a defying 65 off 47 balls under pressure to help the team reach a modest 129 for seven. They then bowled out the Kochi team for 74 in 16.3 overs.
“We probably did the same thing. It would have been a different scenario had we got Kumar’s (Sangakkara) wicket in that situation. Kumar batted really well,” said Jayawardene.
Deccan Chargers were reeling at 20 for three in 5.2 overs but Sangakkara in company of Cameron White (31) rescued the team from the precarious position with a defying 90—run stand for the fourth wicket.
Asked if the target of 130 was difficult, Jayawardene said, “We should have been more sensible in the first six overs. They had two quality bowlers and they bowled really well and we lost too many wickets. Then it was really very difficult to make a come back.
“I though the wicket had a bit of moisture and there was quite a bit of movement.”
The Kochi track had a lot to offer to the pacers. It helped the Kochi pacers as well but Ishant could extract the maximum help out of the juicy pitch as he hit the deck hard.
When Jayawardene was asked if batsmen fail to adapt to these types of wickets as most sub—continent tracks are batsmen friendly, he said, “Could be. There are lot of Indian players as well and some overseas players.
“It is tough when you are playing on these tracks. It is a challenging wicket. As the home team, we would probably have to think about it.”
