Rovman Powell said that he tried to instil belief in the Rajasthan camp by taking down Kolkata’s gun bowler Sunil Narine during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 clash on Tuesday, April 16. At the iconic Eden Gardens, when RR needed 62 to win off their last 4 overs while chasing 224, Powell laid into Narine, by hitting him for a four followed by 2 massive sixes.
advertisement
Although Powell got out to Narine later in that over, he gave Rajasthan the momentum that they needed in the death overs. Powell scored 26 runs off 13 balls with the help of 1 four and 3 sixes. His knock paid rich dividends as RR beat KKR by 2 wickets to record their sixth win in the tournament. The hard-hitter said that he tried to attack Narine to put pressure on the other KKR bowlers.
IPL 2024 Full Coverage | IPL 2024 Points Table and Standings | 2024 IPL Full Schedule
“In T20 cricket, a lot of people don’t get credit for playing impactful innings. A lot of technology is there that gives data to innings that guys play, but not a lot of data and technology is there to pick up the impact, a 20 off 10 or a 30 off 15,” Powell said in the post-match press conference.
“I started by trying to take down Sunil as their main bowler and give the guys the belief that if Sunil can go for runs, then anybody can go for runs. And that fuelled right through the group,” Powell said.
‘Just relax’
Powell was also involved in a handy partnership of 57 runs with Jos Buttler for the seventh wicket. After he got out, Buttler, who was earlier struggling to find his timing, scored a 55-ball hundred under extreme pressure.
Powell said that he kept his communications clear with Buttler, who took the responsibility of taking RR home despite not finding it easy to get going in the initial phase of his knock.
“I was there with Jos and I told him ‘Just relax. I will try to hit a few sixes’ because he was trying to hit the ball but wasn’t connecting. So, I tried to hit the sixes and if I got out, ‘you would take on’ the mantle of trying to scoring those big sixes,” Powell added.
Tune In