CENTURION, South Africa, CMC – Guyana coach Ravindra Seeram says his side performed way below their best in their nine-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.
Sent in to bat in their opening game of the Champions League Twenty20, Guyana crumbled for 103 off their 20 overs before Royal Challengers effortlessly cruised to their target in just 12.2 overs.
“We did not stick to the plan at all and got bogged down. We batted badly today and wasted too many dot balls,” Seeram said.
“We spoke about the extra pace and bounce in the pitches that we would face here but while there was a bit of bounce the pitch was a really good one to bat on and we lost the game long before it was over because of the way we batted.”
For Guyana, only Chris Barnwell with 30 from 35 balls got beyond 20 as pacer Jacques Kallis grabbed three wickets and Praveen Kumar, two, to send the Caribbean side tumbling at SuperSport Park.
Captain Ramnaresh Sarwan made just seven before falling to Kallis at 34 for two in the sixth over and the batting tailed away badly thereafter. Seeram said the pitch was well suited for batting but said he believed the cold weather and nervousness of the moment could have played a role in Guyana’s poor showing.
“Maybe the guys were nervous. The body language since in the practice sessions and warm-ups yesterday (Saturday) did not look too good. It’s cold and about five of the guys are down with the flu due to the weather,” Seeram explained.
“This is all new to most of the guys and now that our first game is out of the way I hope this can build us up since we need to win our next three games instead of breaking us down.
“The guys played way below their standard today (Sunday) and I think the conditions and atmosphere played a part.”
Things are not likely to get easier for the Guyanese. They will now face the powerful Mumbai Indians on Thursday before clashing with South Africa’s Highveld Lions next Sunday.
With the experience of the first game behind them, Seeram said he expected a bigger improvement from his players in the upcoming fixtures.
He also said he had spoken to the side who knew they needed to tighten up in several areas of they were to be competitive.
“We had a talk after the game and we knew we played badly. We have a few days to work on our flaws and one of them is that we are allowing too many dot balls and not turning over the strike enough,” he said.
“That was a problem even in the Caribbean Cup. We have to bat well to win matches. We also spoke about lifting ourselves since if the young guys want to become international players they have to learn to cope with large crowds, strange conditions and pressure. This is a good learning experience and I hope they are learning.”
He continued: “We have got to be a lot more positive when we bat and the guys know that we have to win the remaining games to reach the semi-finals so we will have a few days before in Durban and try to focus on being positive and believing that we can do this.
“Today (Sunday) was a big game….the lights, fireworks, the people, the TV….the Indian teams are accustomed to this. I don’t think the guys will be too nervous in the next games since they have now experienced what it is like to play here.”
