Pathan hits back at Gavaskar's comments about RCB's 'Popatwadi attack’

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS staged a remarkable victory, riding on Yusuf Pathan’s power hitting to overcome Royal Challengers Bangalore for their fifth victory of the ongoing season. KKR chased down RCB’s challenging total of 185 with five balls to spare.

Although Pathan single-handedly won KKR the game, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar termed the RCB bowling as ‘Popatwadi Attack (easy to hit, like in lower grade cricket).’

However, the Kolkata batsman opined that the bowling attack of the Bangalore franchise could not be termed as a ‘weak attack, which is easy to hit.’ 

 As reported by oneindia, Pathan said,    

"Any team playing, or for that matter any batting lineup, and especially any bowling lineup cannot be called Popatwadi Attack, when teams are participating in big tournaments as IPL. 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.”

The mercurial batsman was in full flow as he produced a match-turning fifth-wicket partnership of 96-runs with Andre Russell. When asked about the game plan that led to the blistering partnership, the 33-year-old told iplt20.com,

"We were not thinking of anything in particular. We knew if we stuck around and played our shots, the target would not be too difficult to chase. At one point, when I was setting myself up, Russell played really well, taking the pressure off me. So that was very important, that we played for each other." 

Revealing their approach to keeping up with the asking rate, Pathan added, 

“We wanted to keep wickets in hand, while still playing our shots to prevent pressure from building. We knew that if we could take it deep, then one over of 20-25 runs could swing it our way.”