I got tremendous respect for Patidar, says Flower

“If I cast my mind back to how poorly I captained when I was his age, I’ve got tremendous respect for how he’s held himself with all that scrutiny and captained some big players,” Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower said

HYDERABAD: Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Andy Flower said one of the most impressive things about Rajat Patidar (captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru) was that he was not affected by the lack of experience as a captain.

Flower informed the media after RCB won the IPL Trophy defeating Punjab Kings by six runs in Ahmedabad on Tuesday that captaining RCB was a really tricky job.

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“If I cast my mind back to how poorly I captained when I was his age, I’ve got tremendous respect for how he’s held himself with all that scrutiny and captained some big players,” Flower said.

“You can’t underestimate the calmness Rajat showed in leading some really big players, a really big franchise, making good decisions out there in the middle under the pressure that RCB players play under. So I’ve got tons of respect for him. I’m really proud of the way that he’s carried himself, and he’s been crucial to us doing well,” he explained.

Flower was all praise for Phil Salt for pulling off a stunning catch near the boundary line to send back Kings opener Priyansh Arya.

“That was an outstanding catch, wasn’t it? It took a while to get to him, he knew that he was moving towards the boundary, and to stay that calm under that sort of pressure in a final to get our first wicket was an amazing piece of fielding from him, and also just holding his nerve,” Flower said reminding that Salt came back from England at 3 am on Tuesday morning.

“We would have bowled first if we’d won the toss. The pitch was a little tricky and why it might have felt a little slow to a lot of people, but there were little cameos along the way from a lot of our batting group, and good aggressive little cameos that took us to 190, and 190 is a big chase when the pressure of winning the cup is on. So even though we lost the toss, I thought we handled ourselves really well,” the RCB head coach said.

“I think some of our assistant coaches, DK [Karthik], Malo [Malolan Rangarajan], Richard Halsall, and Omkar Salvi, they’ve been outstanding,” Flower said. “Having that Indian insight and knowledge in our coaching staff has been really important for this campaign this year. And DK particularly, I think as a mentor and batting specialist, he’s been brilliant. I’ve loved working with him, he’s got great energy, he has got a smile on his face most of the time,” Flower said.

“It’s quite a transition to make from playing to coaching, and DK has done it amazingly well. It’s very obvious that he’s had an impact, certainly on the batting group, but he’s certainly had an impact within the leadership of the management group, and the coaching group, and with the wider team,” he said.

“I’ve worked with Mo Bobat (Director of Cricket, RCB) a little bit with the England cricket board when we both worked for England,” Flower said. “For such a young man to have such insight and knowledge and drive, he’s incredibly impressive, and I think his leadership over the last couple of years… it has been really impressive to be close to him while he’s been leading like he does. He’s got a great brain, he’s a good strategist, and he’s a good man, so I’ve got tonnes of respect for him,” he said.

“I think Suyash Sharma has done really well for us, our little leg-spinner. I thought he’s handled himself really well through the season. Krunal is a big match player and a great competitor, and that spell today was the major difference between the teams,” Flower said.