India Cricket Team

Friday, April 15, 2011

Sangakkara advises team-mates to build winning momentum

After his side notched up their first victory at home ground with a 33-run crushing of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara asked his players not to get carried away but work hard to build winning momentum.

"It is a great feeling to notch up our first win at home. But we need to build winning momentum in the coming matches. The situation can change very quickly in this tournament and so we need to keep our feet on the ground," Sangakkara said after his side's win.

He said the win was a collective effort but picked Bharat Chipli for special praise for his unbeaten 61 that helped Deccan post a big total of 175.

"It was a collective effort by the team. We batted very well to score 175 and that took the game away from Bangalore. Chipli batted fantastic and then the bowlers were brilliant," said the Sri Lankan.

Asked if there was talk at the dressing room that the jinx of not winning any match at home in the IPL before today, Sangakkara said, "It was all about mindset. We did not do nothing much different. We wanted to play our best and we did that today."

RCB captain Daniel Vettori rued his side could not chase down the target of 176 on a "very good" surface.

"It was a very good surface for Twenty20 cricket. We thought we can chase down. But probably we lost because we did not bowl and field well today," he said.

"We had allowed Deccan to score 20-odd more runs. They (Deccan) played well and deserve to win," said the New Zealander.

Man-of-the-match Dale Steyn said he was delighted to find as soon as he started bowling that the pitch offered swing and carry.

"I was excited that there was swing and carry. But it was a team effort. Ishant bowled well upfront and then Manpreet took three wickets," he said.

"Ishant was asking me whether he should bowl bouncers. I told him to bowl the way he normally bowls without any pressure. I told him to the basics and keep the length and line right," said the South African who took three for 24 from his four overs.

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