IPL 5: Vettori seeks to restrict McCullum

Bangalore: Restricting the big-hitting Brendon McCullum and the best utilisation of his key spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is what Royal Challengers Bangalore’s skipper Daniel Vettori is thinking ahead of their IPL 5 clash against Kolkata Knight Riders here on Tuesday.
"I know how destructive he [McCullum] can be and how he can take the game away from us quickly. He is incredibly dangerous and good player, so we are going to stop him at top of the order. We did that last year when he played for Kochi. Hopefully, we will do the same this year," Vettori said at a pre-match press conference.


Apart from strategising to stop McCullum, Vettori is focused on getting a right combination for every game to forge ahead in this year's IPL. He is excited to bowl in tandem with Muralitharan and take wickets. "Murali is the best bowlers of all time. He is a wicket-taker and a strike bowler. So it is important that both of us ball in tandem. Murali is the best guy to throw the ball to when you need a wicket," he said.
Vettori said it is quite exciting to have Muralitharan in the side as it makes the job a lot easier. "I was fortunate enough to play with Murali in the World Series game a few years back. There I got a chance to know how good he was," he added. “Moreover, the team needs bowlers who have skills to take wickets as the wicket at the Chinnaswamy stadium was still good to bat on.”
Vettori said the team was pretty confident that the dashing West Indian batsman Chris Gayle would play on Tuesday. "He is running and batting the whole time so we are confident he will be in the side tomorrow," he said. With the inclusion of Gayle in the team, Vettori has a good problem of choosing from plenty of overseas players in the side. "Andrew [McDonald] performed so well in the last game. There will be pressure on all the overseas players to keep performing. As a captain, it is my responsibility to get the right balance in every game. It is a good thing that the overseas players need to perform otherwise guys waiting in the wings would get the responsibility to perform," Vettori said.
Tillakaratne Dilshan is another player who is going to put pressure on four overseas players who played the last encounter against Delhi Daredevils. "It is great to pick from the plenty [of options] available, including Luke Pomersbach. Dirk Nannes is coming back. So there is a lot to choose from," he said.