CENTURION, South Africa – 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.
Batting pitch
Seeram said the pitch was well suited for batting but 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.” (CMC)
