Blaming his batsmen for the 14-run loss to Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid said his side's chances of finishing among the top-two ahead of IPL playoffs have been dented considerably.
"This loss was a big one for us. Obviously our net run rate is below both Mumbai Indians and CSK's. We needed this win if we wanted to finish in top two, now we have to rely on one of them losing very badly. They are pretty good sides, they don't lose very easily," Dravid told reporters in a post-match press conference last night.
"You never know with a bit of luck we win against Hyderabad and if one of them (MI and CSK) loses badly, we can still finish in the top two but it is looking difficult," he said.
Dravid said the bowlers did their job by restricting Mumbai to a gettable total of 166 but the batsman squandered their opportunities.
"We did a brilliant job at the back. A side like Mumbai Indians, with the kind of hitters that they have at the back-end after they got off to a flier, to restrict them to 166 was an amazing effort from the boys on the field," Dravid said.
"I thought all the three guys (James Faulkner, Kevon Cooper and Shane Watson) who bowled at the death were superb and deserve a lot of credit. Just sad that they ended up on the losing side because we didn't bat really well in the first six," he added.
Chasing 167 runs, the Royals lost four batsmen in the first six overs with just 29 on the board.
