It feels really good to finish off a game for the team, says elated Mandeep

After struggling to make a strong impact all season, Mandeep Singh produced a blistering cameo to power the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thrilling seven-wicket win over Knight Riders.

Just when the hosts appeared to be in a spot of bother in agame that was reduced to just 10-overs-a-side, the 23-year-old struck a superb 18-ball 45 as RCB scaled down KKR’s 111 with two balls to spare.

Elated at finding his groove with the tournament heading towards the business end, Mandeep said he was very happy to have struck form. “It feels very good. Like in the last game, I thought I missed out on a good innings. I was playing well, but couldn’t capitalise on those 27 runs. So, really wanted to finish the game today, and it feels really good.” When asked if he felt any extra pressure after the dismissal of Virat Kohli, Mandeep said he just wanted to keep things simple and carry RCB home.

“Nothing special actually. I was trying to keep it very simple. If there’s a bouncer I’ve to pull, if there’s a slower ball, I’ve to bat. I was trying to keep it very simple. I knew scoring balls will come to me. I was waiting for those bad deliveries.”

With two more games to come in a span of four days, Mandeep said the mood in camp is very upbeat having registered their third straight win after a faltering start. “I think the team is really confident. I think in the first few games, we were not able to get our combination right. But now our combination is very good, and everyone is in a good touch, and everyone is confident about their games. We are very much confident we’d do well in the upcoming games as well.”

KKR’s Ryan ten Doeschate felt the team did it all but results can go any way in such truncated games. “To be fair, I think we batted and bowled very well tonight but they were better than us today. These short games can go either way.”