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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar praised the team’s fearless batting and positive intent after their huge 92-run win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in the first qualifier match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Patidar’s explosive innings of unbeaten 93 runs in 33 balls established RCB’s dominance over the match. Patidar, who became the ‘Player of the Match’ in this match played in Dharamshala, said that the intent shown by the batsmen was excellent.

After scoring 254 runs at the loss of 5, RCB made a strong entry in the final by bowling out GT for 162 runs. Patidar said after the match, ‘It was a great match for us. The way the batsmen batted with dominance and showed intent from the beginning was very good for the team. He said, ‘There was no fixed strategy but we were mentally prepared. Every batsman showed through his body language that he is ready to compete.

What did Patidar say on his innings?

Patidar said about his batting, ‘I try to understand the pitch by taking 8-10 balls in the beginning. After that I bat with a clear mind. I am not too worried about my wicket and try to put pressure on the bowler. Patidar also admitted that the pitch was not entirely easy to bat on. He said, ‘It was not easy to get under the ball and hit a big shot because there was variable bounce.’

The GT team is dependent on its top-3 only. This team gets stuck due to absence of Sai Sudarshan, captain Shubhman Gill and Jos Buttler. Patidar told that the plan was to get these three batsmen out early. He said, ‘Looking at GT’s game so far, we knew that we had to get out all three of their main batsmen in the powerplay and it proved effective.’