IPL 5: Can't afford to lose next two games, says Vettori

Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori said that his team fell short by 50 to 60 runs despite Chris Gayle (71) and Virat Kohli (45) putting on 118-run second wicket stand together and laying a solid platform against Kings XI Punjab in their last IPL match.
"We lost momentum in the last five overs of our innings. The way they [Kings XI Punjab] bowled demoralised us and we could not score 50 or 60 runs in the slog overs," Vettori said at the post-match press conference in Bangalore. Vettori said that the team wasted the advantage that Gayle and Kohli provided by taking the RCB to 122 for 1 by the 15th over on a pitch

that was assisting the bowlers initially.

"RCB could have done better by setting 180-run target for the visitors to chase. It was difficult batting first up as the ball was doing a bit initially. Praveen Kumar bowled exceptionally well in his four overs, giving away just eight runs," said the skipper.

The New Zealander also said that the Bangalore have reached a stage where they couldn't afford to lose another match. "We don't want to lose our next two games against Deccan Chargers and Pune Warriors. Losing those will take us to a point of no return. We want to do things we did in the last couple of overs of the Kings XI's innings [effecting three runouts]," he said.