Kane Richardson eager to repay RCB batting unit

The Royal Challengers Bangalore slumped to yet another defeat in the ongoing IPL against the Gujarat Lions at Rajkot. However, while the batting unit lived up to its potential especially with Virat Kohli slamming an important century, the bowlers were substandard on the night. For RCB bowling has been a problem for a long time and has stood in their way of winning the coveted IPL title.

Kane Richardson, one of the new additions to the RCB bowling unit has failed to impress thus far. However, speaking to the media prior to their encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the 25-year old stated that the RCB bowlers must make a genuine effort to match the batting performances by the Challengers.

“I think we’re just lacking confidence. That batsman are putting up an average of 180 runs every game and that should make our job easy but that hasn’t been the case,” he said. “We’ve chopped and changed the team a little bit, especially in the bowling department. The more we play together, the more comfortable we get. Once we get that right we should be back on track,” Richardson told TOI on the sidelines of the Kingfisher Bowl Out event in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

“Their bowling line-up is not as strong, even a target of 200 runs can be chased them on this wicket,” he said after their win in Rajkot last week. The 25-year-old Richardson said it was time for the side to step up and complement the batsmen.

“There is obviously pressure because everybody is talking about our bowling group letting our batsmen down. The only thing we have to do is try and repay the batsmen for all the hard work they have been doing and we have to do that by starting to take wickets.That’s what we are aiming to do,” Richardson said

“In the nets, they just let the bowl and don’t go for the big shots. Shane (Watson) helps a lot because he is the leader of the bowling attack and is a frontline batsman too. So we are pretty lucky to have guys like him around.” With the likes of Kohli, De Villiers and David Warner going after the bowlers, Richardson believes the bowlers must stay motivated.”T20 is mentally more challenging for the bowler than physically. Some bowlers have turned in good results because they don’t get hit to the boundaries and they’re strict runs like Mustafizur Rahman is doing for Sunrisers Hyderabad. You just have to see the batsmen fail and help your team win, that’s the motivating factor which keeps us going,” said the bowler who claimed his maiden ODI five-for against India earlier this year.

“Donald has been good, he is relaxed and keeps it simple. We have to repay him for all the hard work he puts in. Having worked with a few of them before joining RCB had my confidence up.”

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