Thaindian News

Bangalore, April 18 (IANS) Beleaguered Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are desperate to break the jinx and bounce into the reckoning when they take on Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match at the Chinnaswamy stadium here Tuesday.

Returning to the home turf after losing three games on the trot, including one against Mumbai Indians here April 12, RCB hope to get back to winning ways by getting the basics right in all the three departments - batting, bowling and fielding.

“There is nothing wrong with the team per se. It’s a good team. We need to pull up our socks and get the rhythm back to stay in the contest for play-offs,” RCB’s frontline batsman AB de Villiers told reporters here.

Admitting that the team’s morale was a bit low after three consecutive defeats, de Villiers said Tuesday’s game would be a do-or-die battle to reverse the trend and boost the confidence level to remain positive in the coming matches.

“We know that we are in a tight situation. As a team, we need to click. We have to get everything right, be it batting, bowling or fielding. We have put the losses behind and are looking at the next game afresh,” de Villiers asserted.

Noting that the team had enough depth in batting and bowling, the South African batter said poor fielding and dropped catches cost them dearly in the last game against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai Saturday.

“Had Mike Hussey been caught or run-out early, he would not have stayed on to hit 83 (in 56 balls). Inept fielding cost us the last game,” de Villiers recalled.

After losing to Deccan Chargers by 33 runs in Hyderabad April 14, RCB lost to Super Kings by 21 runs as the team could score only 162 for seven wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.

The home team’s lone victory was at Kochi where they thrashed the tournament’s debutant Kochi Tuskers by six wickets in 18.4 overs, with de Villiers smashing 54 runs off 40 balls.

“We’ve got to work hard to turn around the game. Rajasthan Royals are a good team though they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders badly last night (Sunday). We are not taking them lightly. We need to outperform them as it is a must-win game for us.”

RCB are languishing at the bottom of the table with just two points from four games, while Royals are in the fifth position with two wins and two losses and four points to their credit.