DHAKA — Chittagong Kings captain Brendan Taylor blamed a key misfield in the final over for his cricket side’s narrow loss against Rangpur Riders, but defended his decision to use Rubel Hossain to bowl the over.
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Riders won the game by five wickets off the final ball in the BPL’s most exciting finish this season yesterday.
With 16 runs needed off the last over, Kevin O’Brien blasted the first ball from Rubel down the ground towards long-off where Naeem Islam bungled up a straightforward stop by rushing towards the ball and pushing it past the boundary rope on his right.
O’Brien carved the next ball past point for another boundary. After the next two balls yielded just one run, Danza Hyatt struck a straight six and took a leg-bye off the final ball to complete the victory.
“No one means to misfield, but we are all professional cricketers and we all understand that it is not good enough,” Taylor said.
“At the end of the day we didn’t deserve to win that (game). We were poor in the field so the team that holds the nerves are the best and show character will get over the line.”
Taylor’s decision to use Rubel in the final over also came under criticism, especially given the bowler’s poor record in the final overs.
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During this tournament, Rubel failed to defend nine runs gainst Sylhet Royals. But Taylor defended his decision saying that if the boundary was not conceded off the first ball, it would have been a different story.
“Yes it was (the right decision to let him bowl the last over) if we had fielded properly. We had our chances earlier and in the over before. Misfields in the boundary should have been one run and it went for four runs.
“We backed Rubel the whole way and you can’t pinpoint that on him. If we had supported him properly in the field, we wouldn’t be in this position,” he said.
Rubel has had several international and local games where there was a big difference in the economy of his first and last spell. Taylor thinks he has to handle the pressure better to be successful in these situations in the future.
“It’s not Rubel’s fault, we let him down on the field; maybe a bit of nerves, pressure, can’t put my thumb on it yet. He is a guy who works hard and gives you everything that’s a guy you want in the team.”
