Young paceman Jaydev Unadkat says it was “very special” to come up with a performance which helped his side Royal Challengers Bangalore score a crucial win against Delhi Daredevils on Friday.
Unadkat took five wickets for just 25 runs as RCB restricted the hosts to 179 for seven while defending 183.
“It was very special. It was an important game for us as far as the points table is concerned. We needed to win the game to keep ourselves in the hunt for a play-off berth,” Unadkat told reporters at the post-match press conference.
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“I didn’t do anything extra-ordinary. I just tried to stick to my plans. When I came to bowl the last over they needed 19 runs and I knew I just had to bowl three good balls, which I did,” he added.
He also thanked the RCB team management and senior pros such as Zaheer Khan for instilling confidence in him.
“At the start of the tournament I was very apprehensive about getting a game because there are a lot of good pacers in our team. But I got my chances and capitalised on them,” Unadkat said.
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“I am thankful to the team management, the captain and coach for showing faith in me. Zaheer bhai also helped me a lot.”
Chasing the imposing target, at one point of time it looked Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel might just runaway with the game as RCB conceded 46 runs off the last three overs.
And Unadkat admitted that RCB had lot of thinking to do in their bowling department ahead of their remaining crucial games in the league stages of the tournament.
“We could have done well than what we did, but the boundaries here (at the Feroze Shah Kotla) are pretty small. Having said that I feel we need to work on our bowling,” he insisted.
Meanwhile, Delhi Daredevils stand-in skipper David Warner was satisfied with the way his side fought in he match.
He admitted that pacer Umesh Yadav had an off day in the office last night as he conceded a whopping 65 runs off his four overs without any success.
“The last two overs of Umesh Yadav wasn’t his best in this tournament, but that’s cricket. But I am happy that we showed fighting spirit and came close,” said Warner, who was handed over the responsibility of leading the side in place of regular captain Mahela Jayawardene.
“Eventually it comes down to keeping wickets in hand and have set batsmen on the crease which RCB had during their innings.”
Asked why he was given the responsibility of leading the side in place of Jayawardene, Warner said, “Mahela won’t be traveling with us to Chennai so he asked me to get the feel of captaincy. It gives another international player a chance to showcase his potential.”