Thaindian News

Bangalore, April 14 (IANS) Hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) hope to get back to winning ways after losing back-to-back matches when they take on Rajasthan Royals (RR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) T-20 game at the Chinnaswamy stadium here late Sunday.

“We have put the Chennai match behind. We have to forget the last match and move on to the next game. In this type (T20) of game, you win some and lose some,” RCB’s leading spin offie Muthaiah Muralitharan told reporters late Saturday.

Recalling that the previous match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Thursday was a close one on a good wicket, the Sri Lankan legendary bowler said though RCB scored well (205 runs), they lost the match in the last two overs when 43 runs were scored by CSK batters Albie Morkel and Dwayne Bravo.

“Unfortunately we lost the game in the last two overs as they (CSK) played very well. Our calculations went wrong. We thought we will pull it off but didn’t happen that way. It was a learning experience,” Muralitharan admitted before joining his team for practice in the nets at the adjacent national cricket academy’s grounds under flood lights for their third encounter on home turf.

Asserting that no team was going to win all the matches (16) and are bound to lose some at the league level, Muralitharan said which ever team will have the momentum, will qualify for a slot in top four matches.

After winning their first league match against Delhi Daredevils by 20 run April 7 here, the hosts lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 42 runs here April 10 and to CSK by five wickets at Chennai April 11.

Asked if the team has any special plan to beat Royals to reverse the fortunes, Muralitharan said they would give their best shot to get back to winning with the advantage of playing on the home pitch and in front of supporting fans.

“We have a set team with experienced and some young players. Don’t forget we were twice runners-up. Even in Champions Trophy. We have to go and perform to our potential to win as many matches as we can to make it to the qualifiers,” Muralitharan asserted.

Led by local lad Rahul Dravid, Royals will also look for an outright win after they lost two away games back-to-back against Mumbai Indians (MI) by 27 runs in Mumbai April 11 and against KKR by five wickets at Kolkata Friday after registering two consecutive wins at Jaipur over Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs April 6 and KKR by 22 runs April 8.