The Royal Challengers Bangalore have had a “tough pill to swallow” against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their last and first game of the second phase of the IPL 2021 and Mike Hesson offered no explanation but an acknowledgement of marking such performances as “unacceptable”.
However, he does not look back on the game too seriously and instead is backing his “very good side with very good players” to attack the Chennai Super King in “specific” areas in their next encounter.
"I think we have been really specific on how we are going to attack CSK and obviously the conditions of Sharjah will be different as well. We have also acknowledged that the last game was not acceptable but we also know that we are a very good side with very good players, so we have loads of confidence in the camp," Mike Hesson said in RCB’s Game Day video.
Both the Super Kings and the Royal Challengers will be playing their first game at Sharjah Cricket Stadium that has short boundaries in all parts and Hesson suggested that the men in red and gold will have their eyes on that aspect while devising a strategy for the game. He also suggested that the Virat Kohli-led side can bring in changes to challenge the CSK and suit playing conditions at Sharjah
"Obviously, we know that the ground has a lot of boundaries in it, so we got to a have a side that can maximise that. So will certainly look at that from a 11 perspective. But also we need to bowl well as well, so we need to have guys that are able to hit those lengths that we need to be able to defend. So it requires a bit of balancing act and a balance that would challenge CSK,” Hesson added.
This will be the second encounter between MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli in this edition and Kohli will be eager to avenge a big defeat his side had suffered in the first phase of the tournament.