Henriques made a 40-ball 44 and took two wickets in his first spell.
From a personal perspective, it was a wonderful debut for Moises Henriques for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Pepsi IPL 2013, but from a team point of view, Bangalore were at the receiving end of a Super Over loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday night.
Henriques made a 40-ball 44 and took two wickets in his first spell, but was far from satisfied. “I wouldn’t say 44 is a big score but it was nice to get a decent score and a couple of wickets as well. But obviously, it was not the result we were after. It’s too early in the piece, there is plenty of time to turn this around.
“It was a very exciting game but we didn’t get the result we were looking for. That’s the second game in a row for us that has gone down to the last ball. Hopefully for the fans, we don’t keep that up. Hopefully, we can get a couple of wins without making them panic so much.”
Henriques, who has previously played for Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians, said there had been some passages of play which his team could have seized but did not. “There are some key moments in the game where we can look back on and assess how we could have done things better,” he said. “But it’s certainly nothing to panic about. With the change of one ball or one shot, we could easily be winning the game and taking the two points. It’s certainly not panic stations by any means. We played some pretty good cricket out there today but unfortunately we didn’t get the result. But we’ve got to stick to what we do well.
“Having to score seven runs off the last over with four or five wickets in hand, Hyderabad probably felt that they let a chance slip there. But having said that, a couple of overs before when they needed 28 off 18, the game just changed a little bit there with a couple of good shots that they hit. But as I said, it is one of those games that swings in roundabouts and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of it today.”
Kumar Sangakkara sprung a surprise by throwing the new ball to G Hanuma Vihari, the part-time offspinner, in a bid to get rid of Chris Gayle early. Vihari thrilled a massive crowd by eliciting an edge off an intended cut with his first delivery, sending Gayle back on his way for just one. “Obviously, if he is good enough to be playing in an IPL team, he has to be respected and you have to be aware of him,” said Henriques, hinting that Bangalore hadn’t been caught unawares by Vihari, who also made an unbeaten 44. “We some footages of his and we were aware of what he can do. But yes, he played well.”
Wisden India staff | Last updated on Monday, 08 April 2013 14:21