After suffering a crushing 59-run loss at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Delhi Capitals (DC) pacer Kagiso Rabada said they are looking to win two out of the next three games to secure their place in the play-offs.
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Chasing 195 to win, DC could only manage 135/9 in 20 overs. It was a listless batting performance as none of them except for skipper Shreyas Iyer (47 off 38 balls) managed to touch the 30-run mark.
For KKR, Varun Chakravarthy was the stand-out bowler as he returned with figures of 5-20 in his four overs.
"When you lose, obviously it is a concern. We started the tournament really well. We set up ourselves nicely, we need one more win to get to the next round. We are looking to win two of our next three games. That's how the tournament goes, it is quality versus quality, any team can rock up on the day. We've been playing good cricket but need to emphasize what we have done really well and analyze points where we let the game slip away. It's just small little areas, but that happens in IPL. We back ourselves all the time, I do not think we are too worried," said Rabada during the post-match press conference, as quoted by ANI.
"From my vague understanding, Narine played really well and from the good start we got with the ball, we kind of let it slip away, it can happen to anyone, it was just not our day. I don't think we entered the game being complacent, teams are all quality and you cannot foot of the gas. These things happen and we do not need to worry much. People will assess their games individually and as a team as well," he added.
Earlier, Knight Riders piled up a massive 194/6 in 20 overs on the back of Nitish Rana’s 53-ball 81 and Sunil Narine’s 32-ball 64.
At one stage, KKR were reeling at 42/3 after 7.2 overs, but the side was able to score 150 runs off the last 12 overs. For Delhi, Rabada and Nortje claimed two wickets each.
"The pitch looked like it wasn't gripping much, it was easy paced and it proved us to be on the defensive. Narine and Rana played really well, they really got the runs flowing for KKR. It's just quality players who are allowed to do well, but we back ourselves to get them out, we need to see the finer details of where we let it slip," said Rabada.
"It was quite tough because Anrich and myself had already bowled two overs, we back every bowler to dismiss batsmen, it just didn't happen against KKR, hopefully, we can get this loss out of our system. Anrich and I have been bowling well as a pair, the intensity of the tournament is really high, you have a lot of bowlers in the other teams who are doing well. Anrich and I are glad to be doing well for the team," he further remarked.
Delhi Capitals are currently at second spot in the points table with 14 points from 11 matches. The Shreyas Iyer-led side will take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their next clash on Tuesday (October 27) in Dubai.
