This RR bowler delivered despite his mom being very ill!
Rajasthan Royals entered the finals of IPL 2022 – their second IPL final ever. They beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7 wickets in the second qualifier. Contributions came from all their five bowlers over the long season with Yuzvendra Chahal chasing the purple cap.
Rajasthan Royals Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara was pleased with the team’s performance going forward. He praised West Indian pacer Obed McCoy for delivering with the ball despite his mother’s health back in the Caribbean. The 25-year-old pacer picked 3 wickets in the second qualifier.
“Mccoy’s mother has been very ill back in the West Indies – he had to cope up with all situations and been able to put that aside to deliver for his team. Thankfully she is recovering well now.”, Sangakkara said.
McCoy was the bowling star of Rajasthan Royals in qualifier 2. He removed Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror and Harshal Patel to return with bowling figures of 4-0-23-3. He conceded just 3 runs off the final over to restrict RCB below 160 runs in the all-important qualifier for the finals.
The West Indian pacer picked 11 wickets in the 6 matches he played at an average of 19.18 and a strike rate of 12.36. He became the death overs go-to bowler for Rajasthan Royals – which has been a concern for the team over the season. This is McCoy’s maiden IPL season.
Sangakkara also lauded the back room work for getting things up and ready for the team.
“We did almost 8 months of work with our new investors. At the auction table, we spent 90-95% of our purse on putting together our first XI. We worked hard on data to work on the players we wanted. We put emphasis on experience at the moment. We have a spattering of youngsters who will become stars later, but our first XI has a strong share of seasoned internationals. Full credit to Giles Lindsay, our analyst, Zubin Barucha and the rest of the staff. Wins don’t just happen. It takes a lot of planning, hard work, and execution on the field.”
The Sri Lankan praised English batter Jos Buttler for the way he came in to the season and delivered.
“Jos Buttler backs his strengths and manoeuvres the bowling to bowl more and more to his strengths. The great thing is he can accelerate anytime. Overall, he is a wonderful guy who thinks deeply about his game and himself,” Sangakkara said.
RR will take on Gujarat Titans on Sunday, May 29 – in the grand finale. The match begins at 8pm IST after the closing ceremony which is set to begin at 625pm IST.
