Kochi Tuskers have task cut out, says Mahela

Kochi Tuskers Kerala will have to name a new skipper if they make the play-offs in the IPL. To get there they will need to lift themselves up and secure favourable results in the remaining four matches.

That they need at least six points more out of a possible eight is not lost on their current captain Mahela Jayawardene, who will soon set off on national duty.

"We need to win at least three out of the next four games to stay in contention for the semifinal," stated Jayawardene at the press conference at the Chinnaswamy Stadium soon after a practice session on Saturday. "We would prefer that approach rather than bank on other teams' performance to help us through. It is simple. We need to win our games."

Of course, it is not that simple, given that on Sunday they are up against Royal Challengers Bangalore who are on a winning streak. "Our first match was against RCB. It was a close match and unfortunately we lost that game. After that we made a few changes in our team and we have got things under our control," said Jayawardene. "Ours is a young team and it took some time to settle down."

The former Lankan captain is not banking on just the overseas stars but is looking at others to step up too. "The local players are doing well for us and that is a good sign. Prashanth Parameshwaran held his nerve in big matches. We all know that Raiphi Vincent Gomez has the talent and has done well."

Perhaps the fact that the big-hearted R Vinay Kumar has played a lot of his cricket at the Chinnaswamy Stadium will come as an additional boost. "Vinay brings in lots of experience of having played here. He can give us insights about the pitch but then even the RCB squad has changed tremendously from what it was in the last season and we need to plan for that. Gayle has done very well and we need to take that into account."

Jayawardene is also banking on the better tracks that have been on offer here. "I am not making an excuse but in our last few games we have played on some mediocre wickets and then you have to scrape for the runs. On good tracks we have done well against strong teams be it Delhi or Kolkata."