Three defeats on the trot is unacceptable

It’s unacceptable for the owners; it’s unacceptable for the supporters; and, make no mistake, it’s completely unacceptable for the players.

We haven’t performed anywhere near our potential in the defeats against Mumbai, Deccan and Chennai, all in the space of five frenetic and frantic days.

Our fielding has certainly been below par, we have conceded too many runs at crucial times and our batting has lacked rhythm and resolve.

The IPL is an unforgiving competition. Every team suffers a blip at some stage of the tournament -- as MS Dhoni said last week, ‘you win some and you lose some’, but nobody can afford to be off their game for too long.

Every time you lose, you generally fall further behind the top four and, before you know it, you have too much ground to make up and secure your place in the semifinals.

We clearly need to start winning soon, and we are completely focussed on getting the job done against Rajasthan at home on Tuesday.

A victory in front of our own fans will restore self-belief and get our campaign back on track. Everybody knows what we must do.

Energy and intensity

Twenty20 cricket is a game where you must focus on doing the basics brilliantly... you need to bowl in the right places, you need to field with real energy and intensity and you need to bat with genuine purpose.

We will set ourselves goals, individually and collectively, and, step by step, we will get back to the anticipated and required levels of performance.

You have to give some credit to the opposition. Sachin Tendulkar has been in great form and he batted brilliantly in our match against Mumbai.

Deccan’s impressive four-man seam attack made life difficult for our batsmen and, when we played Chennai, Michael Hussey ’s unbeaten 83 was a magnificent innings by a fine player.

Intense preparation

However, we must focus on our performance and we know exactly where we must improve if we are to make an impact in this tournament. Through hard work, intense preparation and concentration, our fielding will become sharper, we will provide better bowling support to the likes of Zaheer Khan, Daniel Vettori and Virat Kohli, and we will bat with more pace and direction.

As a united squad, we are resolved to improve, and we will.

Hawkeye / Chivach Sports