IPL 2017, RCB vs RPS: Daniel Vettori Defends Decision To Drop Chris Gayle

Royal Challengers Bangalore are in a free fall in the IPL 2017 points table and even the return of their talismanic captain Virat Kohli has failed to get them going. RCB took on Rising Pune Supergiant at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday and once again tasted defeat, their fourth in five matches this season. Bangalore made a few changes to their team, one of which was to bring in Shane Watson in place of Chris Gayle. The West Indian has been one of RCB's key players in past seasons but has failed to come to the party in season 10. Team's head coach Daniel Vettori defended the decision to drop Gayle, saying he felt his team was a bowler short in the previous matches.

"After the Mumbai Indians game, we thought we had a bowler short and Watson gives us the opportunity as he is a proven performer with both bat and ball. He has been a wonderful Twenty20 all-rounder and we decided to back Watson for his all-round skills," Vettori said.

RCB went on to lose to RPS by 27 runs on Sunday night and are now rock bottom in the IPL 10 points table.

The decision to Watson sort of backfired as the Australian failed to make impact with both the bat and ball. He could manage just 14 runs off 18 balls and conceded 44 runs for one wicket in his four overs.

"We bowled tightly in the first 18 overs but went away with the plan in the last two overs which cost us 30 runs. It was 15 runs too many and that put us under immense pressure," Vettori said.

The Chinnaswamy wicket in past seasons has been a death bed for bowlers and a paradise for batsmen, however, this year the pitch appears to be much slower and much harder for batting.

"The Chinnaswamy wicket has not been a bad one for T20s.It has been exciting for the bowlers. All the matches here have been entertaining. It is different and we need to adapt. We have not been able to mirror the performance we had against Delhi Daredevils," Vettori said.

(With PTI Inputs)