Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar was not amused with the way his batters threw away their wickets in a heap when thing were cruise control, saying this was “not acceptable” following a six-wicket home loss to the Delhi Capitals on Thursday. Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam bowled with purpose while KL Rahul struck an unbeaten 93 as the DC juggernaut continued to roll menacingly, inflicting a morale-shattering defeat on RCB with 13 balls to spare. “We have not batted well. Batters are in a good frame of mind, they have shown nice intent. 60 for one, and then 90 for four, that is not acceptable,” said Patidar post match.

RCB’s Phil Salt had pummelled the DC bowlers in powerplay overs, guiding the home side to 61/1 in only the fourth over before they slumped to 91/4 after which they lost momentum to score a below-par 163/7.

“We thought it would be a nice batting track. We were lacking in assessing the conditions and the situation,” said Patidar, adding that Tim David (37) did his bit by accelerating the run-scoring.

But it came too late in the day.

“The way David accelerated at the end, it was really amazing. The powerplay, the way the (RCB) fast bowlers bowled, it was really special (reducing DC to 30/3),” he added.

Player of the Match KL Rahul said watching the ball keenly behind the stumps helped him when he came in to bat.

“It was a slightly tricky wicket but what helped me was being behind the stumps for 20 overs, watching how the wicket played. The ball sat in the wicket but it was consistent throughout, it was one-paced.

“I knew what my shots are, wanted to get off to a good start, and then assess it accordingly. It depends on the conditions and the ground and the dimensions. On a wicket like this, I knew what my pockets were. If I wanted to hit a big six, I knew what pockets to target, and ‘keeping gave me a feeler for where other batters were dismissed and where they hit the sixes,” added Rahul.

Rahul added that having played a lot of cricket in his formative years at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium helped him immensely.

“This is my ground, my home, (I) know this (ground) better than anyone else. Something I have always done with my preparation is that I always try to adapt to different wickets (even in practice). I experiment in practice, get out a couple of times but it gives me a fair idea of the areas I can target — where I can take singles, where I can hit sixes.” DC skipper Axar Patel said four wins in four matches had given the team a huge boost in morale.

“Everyone is playing with confidence, it feels nice (to have won four out of four). We talk about match-ups and what is happening off the surface. I felt they like to face pacers, so tried to hold them back.

“Then the ball was spinning and bouncing, so thought of bowling spin in the powerplay,” he said.

He lauded Rahul’s efforts saying the charismatic ‘keeper-batter had played a mature innings.

“It becomes a very easy job for me. I have been in that situation, being used as a floater in pressure situations. It is not easy (changing positions). Having a player like him is a very good thing. I played a bad shot today to get out, but he played a mature innings and finished it off. He has been carrying his Champions Trophy form.”

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