IPL: Upbeat Rajasthan wary of Bangalore's blazing guns

The last time these 2 teams faced each other, RCB were bundled out for just 70

Bangalore - Sitting pretty in the points table behind Chennai and Punjab, an upbeat Rajasthan is, however, wary of Bangalore’s top order coming out all guns blazing in their Indian Premier League (IPL-7) tie here on Sunday.

“Though Bangalore is in a rough situation, their top order may come out all guns blazing, as they have to win most of the remaining six games to make it to the playoffs. Hopefully, we will maintain our momentum and try to get on top of them,” Rajasthan all-rounder Steven Smith told reporters on Saturday.

With five wins out of eight games, even as Rajasthan Royals will go all out to stay put in the table, a bruised Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will be under tremendous pressure for a must win after two back-to-back defeats against Mumbai Indians Tuesday in Mumbai and Kings XI Punjab Friday here.

With just three wins out of eight matches, RCB has slipped to the sixth position in the table, as they have been struggling to get back into form to reverse their fortunes in the tournament’s seventh edition.

“As we also need to win games to stay on course, it is an important match for us though they (RCB) will be under more pressure to win,” the 25-year-old Australian said ahead of the clash between the two Royals.

Reiterating that T20 was a tricky game in which even top players fail to score on a day but come out all guns blazing another day, Smith admitted that Bangalore had some quality players like Chris Gayle who has scored hundreds a couple of times in the past.

“They got some big match winners like (Virat) Kohli, AB (de Villiers) and Yuvraj (Singh). We will try to contain them and win to make up for our 32-run loss in the last game against Hyderabad Thursday at Ahmedabad,” Smith asserted.

Admitting that their batting too had not been consistent, Smith said though they had won most (five) of the games due to significant contribution by their bowlers, their batsmen were working hard to get their rhythm back.

“At times, the wicket has dictated how many runs we got. For instance, the in the last game (at Ahmedabad) the wicket was pretty slow and it was quite a low-scoring game.

“Though not a big issue, we just need to get more consistent and put up big totals to give a fight,” said Smith, taking a break from a practice session at the nets in the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Asked if his team was working on a specific strategy with Bangalore’s Rahul Dravid as its mentor to pip RCB on its home turf, Smith said the team relied more on processes and executing them than targetting a specific team.

“I think we are doing pretty well. It’s more about having processes in the right place. You are not going to win every game. It is part and parcel of the tournament.

“It is all about having the processess right and executing them to win the matches,” Smith said.

While RCB has no local lad in their team, Rajasthan has two Bangalore players – Stuart Binny and Karun Nair.

“It is beneficial to have local players in the team. Stuart and Karun are quality players. We have seen Karun doing really well for us in the last couple of games. And we know that Stuart can hit the ball as far as anyone. We know that a big knock is round the corner from him. Hopefully tomorrow (Sunday) night, he can find some touch and get a few over the fence,” he added.