Team is hurting after defeat, says RCB's Harshal

Harshal Patel (2/19) was one of the star performers with the ball for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the paceman admitted that the team was hurting after their 24-run loss to Chennai Super Kings here on Monday.

 Chasing Super Kings’ 148/9, Royal Challengers were bowled out for 124 in 19.4 overs.
 “We were in a very good space,” Harshal noted in his post-match comments. “We had won three games out of last four and so losing this game after particularly doing so well with the ball hurts a little, definitely. But we are not worried too much about that. As I said, we have been playing very good cricket and we did play some good cricket in this game as well. We are just focusing on the positives and want to move on to the next game,” he remarked.

 Harshal said they expected the wicket to play slow but not unplayable. “It was still a very good wicket to play cricket on,” he pointed out. “They also scored around 150 after losing early wickets and had Virat (Kohli) not got run out, we could have won this game with a couple of overs to spare. It was a very good track to play on but a bit on the slower side.”

 The Haryana seamer said Chris Gayle was rested because of a bad back. “Chris’ back isn’t up to the mark, so he had to take a break for this game.”

 Fielding, Suresh Raina felt, played a crucial role in Super Kings’ win. “Quality fielding in the first six overs is crucial and it set the game up for us,” he began. “You could see (Dwayne) Bravo's game awareness today. When you are defending 130 or 140 you always need to be on your toes.”

Declared the man of the match for his measured 52 (46b, 5x4, 1x6), Raina said his task was to bat as long as possible. “I was getting 20s and 30s. But when you are batting at number three, you need to take responsibility.

“I had a good chat with MS (Dhoni) and he told me that if I can be there till 14th or 15th over, we can post a huge score. So that was my game plan. I had to spend some time. I always believe in positive cricket. But sometimes you also need to think about the circumstances,” he explained.