JOIN USRoyal Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori said his side lost momentum in the last five overs of their innings, costing their match against the Kings XI Punjab.
Royal Challengers were poised well at 122 for one after the 15th over, but could manage only 158 for five in 20 overs, a total well below par at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
“Gayle and Kohli assessed the situation well in the first 10 overs, when the ball was moving around a bit. But they gained some ground after that but we could not exploit that in the last five overs, losing a few wickets,” Vettori told reporters on Wednesday.
Vettori said Kings XI bowlers did well in the first ten overs, not giving away too many runs. The Kiwi also said RCB have reached a stage where they couldn’t afford losing another match. “Absolutely. Our next two games (at home against Deccan Chargers and against Pune Warriors at Pune) are massive for us. We don’t want to lose them because then we might reach a stage from where we can’t return. We want to tighten up for the next two games. We want to do the things we did in the last couple of overs in the Kings XI innings (effecting three run-outs) more often in the next two matches,” he added.
Kings XI stand-in skipper David Hussey downplayed the nerves his team showed in the last few overs. “These sort of things happens in a pressure situation. We don’t want to sit and think about that. We bowled well in the first 10 overs of RCB innings, and when our turn came, we used the first 10 overs really well to set a good base for our chase,” Hussey said.
The Australian lavished also praise on opener Mandeep Singh and Praveen Kumar.