The Royal Challengers Bangalore's first game against Kolkata Knight Riders was going around very nicely for them, there two best batsmen - Virat Kohli and AB Devillers - were set and about to make the decisive impact before they stumbled. 

From 121/2, RCB lost the two key wickets to the part-timer Nitish Rana and it looked like all going downhill for them before Mandeep Singh resurrected the innings. The young right-hand batsman played the vital knock of 37 at a very substantial strike rate and ensured that the team gets to a score of 177. It wasn't enough though, as KKR won the game comfortably with an over left but Mandeep gained in confidence from it. 

He got a chance to talk about the knock with Sportskeeda recently and stated, "Wanted to see off the first couple of overs and construct a partnership as we lost two of our most important batsmen at once. Both of us (Mandeep and Sarfaraz Khan) had planned that we'll keep the scoreboard ticking, score the odd boundary or two and then let loose in the last couple of overs,"

Mandeep also expressed that he prefers opening in the shortest format but is willing to play any role for the team. "I actually prefer opening in T20s, however, I was instructed post the auction by the team management that I should prepare myself for a role in the middle order (number five or six)."

"Runs down the order have given me some confidence going into the next match, Yes, to an extent I am satisfied, still I feel that I could've done more on the last three balls which would've enabled us to add 10-15 more runs to our total. Obviously, this would've felt better had we won the match, but yeah, runs down the order have given me some confidence going into the next match."