Allan Donald, the Pune Warriors coach, has said that his players were
"scared" after the thunderous assault from Chris Gayle, which set up an
enormous 130-run
victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore. A day after the demoralising
defeat, Donald admitted that he feared the "mental damage" the innings
might have caused his players and said his biggest challenge was to keep
them positive for the remaining eight matches.
"We came across a bloke yesterday who was just devastating," Donald told
ESPNcricinfo in Bangalore. "I have never seen hitting like that in all
my life. To see our guys getting pummeled like that was unbelievable.
When I walked out for the first strategy break, I just saw people
scared, really scared. I just mentioned to the players that if we don't
pull this back here, he is going to take us down big time, which he
did."
Donald realised that the bowlers were clueless and if he did not deliver
a stern message, Gayle could play havoc, which he eventually did with
ease. "When I looked at their faces and no one said a word, the only way
for me was to be very firm in my message; we had to find a way," he
said. "We also discussed in the meeting on the morning of the match that
we had to bowl out batsmen who were not going to give up their wicket.
We needed someone to stand up and do something special and stop the flow
of runs."
As a response Donald observed blank faces. By the second timeout, in the
16th over, Gayle had doubled the team score, taking it past 200 and
Donald was frustrated. "To me that plan was about how we were going to
limit the damage in the next four overs. The plan was to go full into
his pads and also vary the pace," Donald said
The mental scarring Gayle has inflicted on his players has left the
coach worried. "How much damage has this done to us mentally? My job
becomes even harder now and I have to make sure these guys are ready
against another team that is struggling (Delhi Daredevils) on a ground
we have never played (Raipur)," he said. "This group now needs to rally
together."
Barring the pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-23-0) and Luke Wright
(4-0-26-1), at the start and end of the Royal Challengers' innings,
Gayle attacked the rest mercilessly. Donald was not shy to take the
blame. He said the bowlers lacked consistency and the team was one
experienced strike bowler short.
"We haven't been brilliant," he said. "We have been okay in certain
games and really off the boil in the others. And that is one area where
we have let ourselves down. We do not have an attack that is express
pace; we don't have a Dale Styen or a Shuan Tait, though, we have fair
bit of class in Kumar and Ashok Dinda."
At the same time, Donald pointed out, Gayle was unstoppable and
intimidated the bowlers. "There were times during that knock where he
just went ballistic, and then he took a little timeout and then he went
again," Donald said with a chuckle.
After the match, he asked Gayle, "Why us?" Gayle said he was in the
mood. "He has just said that is the best he has ever hit the ball in his
life," Donald said.
I can't find a solution as to why we are not responding. I cannot fault the squad that we have got this year. Is it the failures of the last two years that is playing on everyone's minds or the losing streak that we are on at the moment? Is it affecting everybody? Allan Donald | |||
After their confident victory against Chennai Super Kings, Warriors let
the following two matches slip out of their hands against Sunrisers
Hyderabad at home and then in Mohali against Kings XI Punjab. The
erratic form has left even Donald confused.
"I can't find a solution as to why we are not responding," he said. "I
cannot fault the squad that we have got this year. Is it the failures of
the last two years that is playing on everyone's minds or the losing
streak that we are on at the moment? Is it affecting everybody?"
The failure of marquee players has made matters worse for Donald. Yuvraj
Singh, Ross Taylor, Angelo Matthews and Robin Uthappa have not played
any innings of impact. Acting captain Aaron Finch has been the only
batsman to score a half-century, striking up three fifties in six games.
"The whole team has been hot and cold," Donald said, expressing his
frustration. "If you look at Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de
Villiers, they win the RCB games. The same goes for teams like Super
Kings."
The absence of a stable captain at Warriors has been a point of fierce
debate. The first-choice captains - Mathews and Ross Taylor - have been
battling for form, forcing the team management to appoint Finch, who has
led in the Big Bash, as a stand-in leader. "We never had a captain in
three years leading us solidly," Donald said.
In their debut season in 2011, Warriors finished eighth out of nine
teams in the season. Last year, they slid to the last position. This
season they are ahead of last-placed Daredevils. According to Donald,
there is no place to hide for Warriors. "We can't fault our preparations
or our planning and strategies, we have been on the money," he said.
"We just haven't been unable to put it together on the field. There are
no excuses, there are no explanations and we have got to turn it
around."
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