Helmut urges Vikings to be relaxed, downplays pressure
Photo - BCB
|| CF Correspondent ||
Chittagong Vikings head coach Simon Helmut urged his charges not to take any extra pressure despite not coming close to their potential at their home in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Vikings stepped into the port city as table toppers with 12 points but with two successive defeats respectively against Rangpur Riders and Rajshahi Kings they are yet to confirm their progress beyond the group stage by confirming their berth in the last-four.
‘’We are very disappointed that we have lost our first two home matches but i am very happy that we have won the six matches before. This can happen in t20 cricket. Obviously against Rangpur we had two guys making hundred runs against us which were an extra ordinary effort and last match we missed an opportunity. I think we should have won last match [Kings],’’ Helmut told reporters at the MA Aziz Stadium on Sunday.
‘’We had some close games, we were probably the second team but we got up at once. That’s T20 cricket, we must remain relaxed be calm and hopefully put on a match winning performance tomorrow [against Victorians],’’ he said.
Helmut added that they are missing the service of Robbie Frylinck, who is nursing a groin injury that he sustained during their game against Riders, as he bailed them out on several occasion in the tournament but insisted they need to come with a combined effort as that is the only way for them considering they do not have many big names in their like some of the other franchises.
‘’We think we are missing him, aren't we, He's been a very good player, got wickets on the top, played some match wining innings for us with the bat at number 7,’’ said Helmut.
‘’Look we are missing him but we have enough players in our squad to recover for him. We did play and win a game without Robbie. We aren't relying on just one player. The key for our performance is collective not an individual and that’s what we said very start of this campaign. we must make sure we work as a team as best we possibly can to ensure either we get match winning result not just one man doing it,’’ he said.
‘’Look there is room for improvement there. You are right we need to improve across the board in the top order whether it's overseas or local domestic players. we know in t20 cricket specially on good wickets like chittagong. onderful wicket here, grounds man doing wonderful job,’’ he said.
‘’ it's really important to have wickets in hand in the end. Cause we have seen all teams scoring heavily in the last five overs. Even in the last game scoring heavily in the last five overs you can do if you are only two or three wickets down. If you are five or six wickets down very hard,’’ he said adding that he is impressed with young Yasir Ali, who had been quite a revelation in the tournament so far by blazing with the bat.
