Sachin Tendulkar was all praise for young Ambati Rayudu, who smashed an unbeaten 63 during Mumbai Indians’ nine—wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore here.
“It was a brilliant innings from the young man Rayudu. It was a special stuff,” the maestro lavished praise on his young teammate after the match Tuesday night.
Tendulkar said that they had discussed restricting the opposition to 140, and he was happy they were able to achieve the goal.
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“When we started to bowl, we hoped target would be a maximum of 140. Malinga again provided us a great start. We also fielded well and it was another superb team effort. The idea was to bowl as straight as possible and we did just that.”
However the legendary batsman does not want his teammates to get complacent.
“We have had a good beginning and we have to maintain the consistency as there is still a long way to go.”
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Rayudu on his part credited Tendulkar and MI coach Robin Singh for his performance.
“I have worked hard at the nets under Robin sir. It’s paying off now. Also it’s good to get runs in Bangalore.”
Rival captain Daniel Vettori conceded that 140 was a defendable total but his bowlers let him down.
“We came off the field thinking it was a difficult wicket, but we didn’t bowl particularly well, and the injury to Nannes (side strain) hampered our plans. We have to take a call on whether to rest him as we have got couple of quick games,” the skipper said.
Asked about whether the total was a bit low, he replied, “We thought that 140 was a good score. Full credit to Mumbai Indians bowlers. Malinga is always a difficult bowler to play in the beginning. Harbhajan bowled well and Pollard also chipped in with useful wickets.”