IPL: Yusuf Pathan disagrees with Sunil Gavaskar on 'popatwadi attack' comment for RCB

Bengaluru, May 3: He led the Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) successful chase with his batting heroics but Yusuf Pathan refused to agree with Sunil Gavaskar's assessment of Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) bowling, which he had termed as 'popatwadi attack'.

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KKR chased down a formidable RCB target 186 with ease as Pathan smashed 60 runs last night (May 2) in the Indian Premier League 2016 (IPL 9).

"Any team playing, or for that matter any batting lineup, and especially any bowling lineup cannot be called Popatwadi Attack (easy to hit, like in lower grade cricket), when teams are participating in big tournaments as IPL," Pathan told reporters during the post-match press conference.

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During a studio discussion, Gavaskar had called RCB bowling as "popatwadi attack." "It is his viewpoint and his perception. Whatever he said, it is according to his understanding. But look at Varun Aaron and Shane Watson, they both have represented their country for their achievements," he said.

Pathan said when RCB's bowling will start clicking it will become a diffewent team. "Unfortunately for RCB, compared to their batting strengths, their bowling has not been clicking. It is a matter of two to three games, and if their bowling clicks the team will look altogether a different side," he said.

Pathan said the 96 runs partnership for the fifth wicket between him and Andre Russel played a crucial role to clinching a victory against RCB in their backyard.

"In the initial period of our partnership, Russel took the role of going after the bowling, and I steadied the innings, which helped us build a good partnership, and from there on the target began to look small," he said.

"We were just thinking of staying on the wicket and play shots, when the team was struggling at 69 for four," he said. On Gautam Gambhir's captaincy, Pathan said he is a very good captain, and most importantly he trusts and backs his players in good or bad situation.

"Trusting and backing players in any situation boosts the morale of the players," he said.

Replying to a query on middle and lower order batsmen hardly getting chance to bat in the event of top-order batsmen blazing all guns, Pathan said the team is prepared for this eventuality as was reflected in today's win.

"One thing however is good about KKR - even if the top order fails, the middle order comes to the party as we did today, after the early collapse. They came out good and snatched victory from the jaws of RCB," he said.

On KKR's new head coach Jacques Kallis, Pathan said the South African legend has played lot of cricket for KKR and makes right decisions knowing the potential of each player.

Pathan also said all the four coaches - Kallis, Simon Katich (assistant coach), Wasim Akram (bowling coach and mentor) and W V Raman (batting advisor) - work in unison and consequently the team has enjoyed positive results.

PTI