NEWS
Follow UsSrikar Bharat played a huge role in Royal Challengers Bangalore setting up a solid win over Rajasthan Royals with a 35-ball 44-run innings. After Virat Kohli was run out by Riyan Parag, there was pressure on Bharat to translate his warm-up form to reality once again and it came at the right time with Glenn Maxwell supporting him from the other end. The duo formed a 69-run partnership before AB de Villiers giving the final touch to the victory.
"No.3 is always a beautiful spot to play," said Bharat in the post-match conference. "Everyone always asks questions if you're not ready for it. We at RCB we've always focused on keeping the strike going and getting busy from ball one. It plays a huge role in building a partnership... we have AB and Maxi coming in after that and giving them the platform for a strong finish. My role is to get partnerships.
"Me and Maxi were communicating in the centre and did what the team required at that point. If you play with AB, Maxwell, and Virat bhai you tend to learn a lot of good things in terms of cricket and also how to handle yourself in and out of the sport. Me and Maxi were talking about what areas we could access, what are the boundary options, what are the twos and singles, which bowler has how many overs left, what are his lengths... we were only discussing those tactical things and it worked for us."
With two back-to-back wins, RCB are currently on the third spot on the points table with 14 points and can aim for a top-two finish with their last three games being against underwhelming Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad alongside a rampant Delhi Capitals.