|| CF Correspondent ||

Rangpur Riders coach Tom Moody urged his side to take the pressure off from Rilee Rossouw who almost single-handedly drives the side in every game.

Rossouw is the highest scorer for Riders amongst their much-vaunted batting line up that also included Chris Gayle with 288 runs. But much dependency on him didn’t bring any goods for the as they are now struggling to get a momentum to break the last four spot.

Rangpur, the reigning champions just won two matches out of six, much to the disappointment of their fans.

What hurt Rangpur was their two defeats in the close games in which apart from Rossouw no one could stand tall.

“We can’t rely on one batsman continuing to be the only one to step and that is Rilee Roussow. We need to collectively take responsibility as a top order, and that’s the reason we missed our chances with those close matches. And last night, to be honest with you, 180 was a score we should have chased down, it was a very good batting wicket. I felt if anything, probably Sylhet were 15-20 runs short of what they should have been, given the conditions and how difficult it was for the bowlers and fielders with the heavy dew. When you are three for 11 with Hales and Gayle back in the pavilion, you’re chasing the game in a big way,” Moody said yesterday.

 “We know that we have to bat a lot better than what we have done. Rilee Roussow has played exceptionally well. He’s probably been, so far, the batsman of the tournament. I’m sure he’d like to continue that, but we need other batsmen in the top order to step up and score runs, and they’re fully aware of that. I’ve felt that we’ve bowled well so far in the tournament, we’ve been presented with a chance to close games, not so much last night but the last two games in Dhaka, that were probably games, looking back, that we found ourselves in winning positions in a run chase that should have been finished off.”

Certainly the big disappointment for Riders was Chris Gayle, the Universe Boss, who won them the title in the last year almost single-handedly. Moody still opted to keep faith on him and believed he would deliver when it matters most.