De Villiers stresses on winning at home

Bowling at the death has been one big puzzle Royal Challengers Bangalore have been trying to solve but whatever they attempt, it ends up raising more questions than answers. AB de Villiers blamed it on little mistakes and said the bowlers are trying hard to rectify it.

“I think what it comes down to is that it (Chinnaswamy Stadium) is a good wicket,” the South African said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “We showed that when we were batting. We had a much better bowling performance in the last game (against Delhi Daredevils). There’s definitely a lot of skill and talent in the team. I think we make small mistakes, one or two overs in the 20 we get wrong. I have no doubt we will get it right moving forward. Small little mistakes — previous game it was a couple of no-balls, five wides down the leg-side — those are the things we are looking at rectifying in the next game.”

Including the game against Daredevils, RCB are playing four matches on the bounce at home and de Villiers said winning those is very vital. “History tells you that if you make your home ground a fortress in a season, you normally tend to do well. We know it’s important to do well. We’ve had a bad loss here but we’ve had a couple of good wins as well. Hopefully, in the next three games, we keep (winning). If we get momentum at home, you sometimes surprise yourself. You set the base here.”

Chennai Super Kings have got the oldest squad in this IPL but the veterans have turned up in style that has seen the team just suffer one loss in five games. Coach Stephen Fleming said experience is priceless in big games and that has been proved emphatically by his team.

“There are 35-36 not 55-56! I go back to the fact that experienced and professional players dominate a big part of the IPL. Chris Gayle has come back, playing very well. Shane Watson has highlighted in his performances so far. Dwayne Bravo, MS Dhoni…these guys still have a lot of cricket to play. Yes it is exciting to see young players come and perform. But overall in a season I look for consistency and professionalism. I've found the older players are still motivated and committed. They get you consistency. I'm not here to develop young players, I'm here to try and win the trophy for the franchise.”