Thaindian News

Jaipur, April 29 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne lauded his bowlers for setting-up the team’s seven-wicket win over championship leader Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Friday.

“We generally play well in these conditions. Bowlers executed plans exceptionally. The intensity was fantastic. We had spent a lot of time planning and we put it all together,” said Warne.

The Australian also praised Man of the Match Johan Botha, who top scored with 45 and also picked up three for six.

“Our start was a bit slow but we didn’t want to give Malinga early wickets, so our batting plan worked as well. Johan’s definitely grabbed his opportunity. He is experienced and is a smart cricketer,” said Warne.

Botha said: “Nice to bat on good wickets against the new ball. I am really happy with my performance. We just wanted to start well and that’s what we did. We picked up two-three wickets in the first six overs and that’s always the key.”

Botha revealed that he was nervous while bowling as he was introduced late into the attack.

“I was a little nervous, bowling so late, but it came good for me. While batting, I tried not to over hit the ball, play as straight as possible. It was stopping and the odd one was skidding low, so it was difficult to score,” he said.

Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar said that it was a tough wicket for the visitors.

“It was two-paced, the ball kept low. It was a tough pitch, different to what we played on in Mumbai,” he said.

“Don’t want to take the credit away from Rajasthan, who bowled and fielded well. We lost early wickets and were not able to rotate strike. One hundred and thirty would have been a challenging total. We were not able to accelerate in the middle overs,” said Tendulkar.