RCB batsmen were smart to knock it around: Ravichandran Ashwin

Mohali, April 14 (CRICKETNMORE):  Despite a quality effort from Chris Gayle, Kings XI Punjab failed to take home two points against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League encounter at the I.S. Bindra Stadium in Mohali and skipper R. Ashwin said that the RCB batsmen deserved credit.

Speaking after the match, Ashwin also cleared as to why Sarfraz Khan was chosen to bowl the final over with RCB still needing six runs. "There was only 6 runs to go and the ball was sliding on nicely. I thought the the best way against AB (de Villiers) and (Marcus) Stoinis was to try and go with a leggie, not that Sam (Curran) can't defend.

"We tried with wrist spinners and even I came to bowl, but they were smart enough to knock around and not take any chances. We let ourselves down in the field. We dropped catches and let a lot of balls go through us. The dew helped the wicket on. It was really dry in the first half. It gets better to bat in the second half," he said.

At one point, RCB needed 38 off 3 overs and yet the KXIP bowlers failed to restrict ABD and Stoinis. Ashwin said that it was just one of those days when the bowlers didn't produce the desired results and it was time to move forward and win some games.

"I had to back my best bowlers to do the job, didn't quite work out today. It's (crowd) the best I have seen in Mohali. Hope they come out in large numbers. We play one here and go off to Delhi. We need to string some wins. It's not a bad time to get some momentum back," he said.