Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 24 (ANI): Royal Challengers Bengaluru stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma believes their thumping 42-run defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad is a “good sign” because it allows them to check and analyse ahead of their final group stage fixture and playoff clash in the 18th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The eliminated Sunrisers took away RCB’s golden opportunity to dethrone the Gujarat Titans from the top of the table. Hyderabad, who knocked Lucknow Super Giants out of the race to the playoffs earlier this week, spoiled the party for the Royal Challengers with another clinical display.
Ishan Kishan’s scorching 94* from 48 deliveries, along with handy contributions from the rest of the batters, powered Hyderabad to a daunting 231/6. In reply, Virat Kohli and Phil Salt turned the tide in RCB’s favour, but the middle order couldn’t keep the favourable momentum intact.
Jitesh, who served as the stand-in replacement for Rajat Patidar, felt they gave away 20 to 30 runs extra, considering they were “rusty” and he had no answers to the relentless attack unleashed by the Sunrisers, even though he put them to bat against their will after the toss.
“I think it was 20-30 runs extra. They played very well. I didn’t have any answers for their attack. We were rusty. The intensity was not there initially. In the death, we were bowling more accurately,” Jitesh said after the match.
Jitesh revealed he didn’t meet with Tim David, who injured his hamstring on the first ball of the last over in the first innings while attempting to prevent Kishan’s flick from going past the boundary rope. Despite carrying the injury, David came out to bat in the 17th over after Jitesh’s dismissal.
He was visibly in discomfort while trying to sprint for a single and eventually lost his wicket after he holed his shot straight to Heinrich Klaasen off Eshan Malinga. Jitesh revealed that he hadn’t met with the Australian and said, “Right now, I haven’t met David because I was upset I got out.”
The wicketkeeper batter didn’t dwell on the negatives that their first away defeat brought along. He kept his focus on the positives and said, “Sometimes losing a game is a very good sign because you can check and analyse. The positive things are that everyone’s chipping in. After this loss, we’ve got a setback to check [things] again. We’ll move forward.” (ANI)
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