Parthiv sees 'no wrong' in RCB's top-four strategy

The Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore has, for long, copped criticism for packing its top-four with power-hitters, thereby leaving the middle and lower-middle order bereft of batting might. But wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel feels ‘there's nothing wrong with it.’

Parthiv Patel is yet to play a match this season, continues to help his team-mates off the pitch.

The Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore has, for long, copped criticism for packing its top-four with power-hitters, thereby leaving the middle and lower-middle order bereft of batting might. But wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel feels ‘there's nothing wrong with it.’

“In T20s, the idea is to give your best player as many scoring opportunities as possible,” Patel told Sportstar .

“A lot of teams in fact, have tried to follow RCB’s plan. Mumbai Indians, for instance, opened with Rohit Sharma. Sunrisers Hyderabad had Shikhar (Dhawan) and David Warner at the top followed by Kane Williamson,” he added.

Against CSK, the RCB batting line-up clicked with A.B. de Villiers once again showing the way with a quick-fire 68 off 30 deliveries. But Patel singled out Mandeep Singh’s cameo for praise. The 26-year-old powered the host past the 200-run mark with a fiesty 32 off 17 deliveries.

“The other night, Mandeep (Singh) came down the order (against CSK) and played a great knock. So, you can’t say it’s a top-heavy side, credit must be given to the youngsters as well,” he pointed out.

Patel, who is yet to play a match this season, continues to help his team-mates off the pitch. “If I notice something in the wicket, then I’ve the liberty to give my inputs. I speak with the players, skipper or even Ashish Nehra, with whom I share a great rapport. Having played for so long, players want to know my views and it works both ways,” he said.

With CSK acing yet another last-over finish, can the eight teams in the IPL be differentiated based on how they approach the game?

The 33-year-old doesn’t think so. “Well, there’s no set pattern to how one team plays its cricket (in the IPL), primarily because at any given point, there’ll be players who’ve not been with the same team throughout.

“You try and imbibe qualities of the best players, so you might see a trend emerging for one season or maybe even two or three seasons after the auction. But that’s about it,” he explained.

Despite having scored over 2,000 runs across 10 seasons of the IPL, Patel has struggled to stay put with one team for too long. But the southpaw has ‘enjoyed’ his journey so far.

“People keep talking about that record (Patel has played for six teams in the IPL) but I’ve also won three titles during those stints. There're only a select few with that distinction,” he said.