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IPL Extras: Bring on Mumbai, says RCB pacer Starc
Royal Challengers Bangalore pacer Mitchell Starc says his team is ready to take on Mumbai Indians in their backyard after winning a thriller against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bangalore on Sunday.
"It isn't too early to face Mumbai Indians in their backyard. Some players have hit form. Bowlers are doing well. AB (de Villiers) has come good and Chris (Gayle) also shown his bit. Bring it on, will play tomorrow for sure," he told reporters.
The Australian bowler, who finished with magnificent figures of two for 21 in Sunday’s match, said the Bangalore team’s bowling and fielding was good so far.
"We have been restricting scores of our opponents and also succeeded in doing so yesterday by restricting Hyderabad to 155 for six," he said.
Showering praise on de Villiers, Starc said it was an amazing innings and he was lucky to witness it at the other end.
"It was great to see our team cruising home to a victory after the hard work done by AB. It was a fantastic all-round effort by the boys and it feels great to register our first win at home this season," Starc said.
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'Anything is possible when De Villiers is around'
De Villiers produced one of the most devastating Twenty20 innings as he smashed an unbeaten 89 off just 42 balls in RCB's dramatic win over Hyderabad.
Asked whether he had hopes of winning the match after losing early wickets, Starc said de Villiers made it possible to believe.
- 'De Villiers's knock is one of the best in T20'
"Anything is possible when De Villiers is around and it was important for him to give as much strike to him as possible, and not lose wicket at the other end, which I did," he said.
He added: "A win at home ground is going to push us forward, restart the campaign."
Asked about Yuvraj Singh's form, Starc said, "Look, we won the game. It's doesn't matter. We got home, which is the main thing."
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'If I had held on to that catch, maybe the game could have swung in our favour'
Karn Sharma was Sunrisers Hyderabad’s star with the ball in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday, but the leg-spinner rued the 'tough' dropped catch of A B de Villiers.
The South African batsman’s wicket, he felt, could have titlted the match Hyderabad’s way.
Chasing Sunrisers' 155 for six, de Villiers produced one of the most devastating Twenty20 innings, smashing an unbeaten 89 from just 42 balls to single-handedly power RCB to a sensational four-wicket victory.
The South African batsman, however, got a reprieve when he was on 30, as Karn dropped a tough chance at backward point off Irfan Pathan's bowling.
"If I had held on to that catch, maybe the game could have swung in our favour. But it is part and parcel of the game; at times you hold on to those and sometimes they don't stick to your hands," said Karn, who registered impressive figures of three for 17 from his four overs.
It was his "best performance" this season, and the wickets of Chris Gayle, Rilee Rossouw and Yuvraj Singh made it more special.
"I am happy with my performance, but a bit disappointed that we couldn't win the game. We had done well throughout the game but just lost our way at the end," he told the IPL's official website.
"This is my best bowling performance this year. I got three big wickets for the side. My aim was to put them under pressure and not give too many easy runs."
With just two wins out of six games, the Sunrisers have lot of work to do, but Karn believes the Hyderabad outfit is still in the fray.
"Our hopes are still alive in the tournament. Our goal will be to play the remainder of the matches well, not make the mistakes we did in this game and hopefully turn the results in our favour," he said.