Chennai: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori said Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh`s economical three-wicket haul coupled with his own team`s poor batting cost RCB the Champions League Twenty20 title.
Set a target of 140, RCB collapsed to 108 in 19.2 overs due to Harbhajan (3/20) and Lasith Malina`s (2/23) fine bowling performance. Vettori lauded Harbhajan but rued his team`s poor batting.
"Obviously our batting has been the real strength in the tournament. We restricted them to 140 and thought we still had a good chance. It was a tougher wicket compared to the one that we played on in Bangalore. But we had our chances here tonight," Vettori in the post-match press conference.
"Unfortunately it did not work for us today. You can reflect the batting of both sides today and say that we batted poorly at times. Mumbai bowled exceptionally well and probably what Harbhajan did was the difference between the two teams performance today," he added.
Vettori also felt that it was a difficult wicket to bat on.
"When the pressure was there in the middle order, we did not respond as well. We slogged it on in the end. It was a difficult wicket to so and we look back on it with regrets about and inability in not having done," he explained.
Vettori rejected suggestions that the RCB were banking too heavily on their top-10 -- Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli -- all of whom flopped last night.
"It is not a problem. The top three won the majority of games. Most teams have been successful because of the top three batsmen. That is the reason that we have done so well," he reasoned.
PTI
First Published: Monday, October 10, 2011, 11:11