Royal Challengers Bangalore will be looking to arrest a slide as they line-up for their first home game of this Indian Premier League season against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy Stadium today.
Bangalore had begun the season on a bright note winning two matches but have lost their way in the next three matches.
Hyderabad on the other hand started on a wrong note by losing their first two games before recovering to win two of their next three.
Bangalore captain Virat Kohli is eager to put the UAE leg behind him and focus on the rest of the tournament where winning away games tops Kohli's list of priorities.
He said: “We take this as a fresh start in the IPL regardless even if we had won five games out of five – still take this as a fresh start. It is the away games we are focusing on more than how many to play here.
“We are quite familiar with what we need to do in Bangalore, but last year our drawback was we did not win away games and we could not qualify.
“Losing should hurt but it should not annoy you and let you drift away from what you have to do on the field,” he added.
Bangalore had been hampered by the absence of superstar Chris Gayle for most part of the UAE leg and in the only match he played in Dubai, against Kings XI Punjab, he scored 20 runs off six balls.
He will be central to the team’s plans as they look to put their campaign back on track, while Gayle will also be keen to take charge at the Chinnaswamy where he has a fabulous record.
In 19 innings at the venue, he has scored 1,039 runs at a strike rate of 173.75 and averages 74.21 and smacked 86 sixes and notched up eight 50-plus scores.
Meanwhile, the IPL’s Governing Council yesterday lauded the event’s success in the UAE, claiming that the first leg of the tournament fetched “unprecedented success” in terms of fan turnout, television viewership and ticket collections.
“Inviting full houses to every game at the three venues – UAE played perfect hosts. 82 per cent were paid tickets (compared to 56 per cent in South Africa during 2009 season),” the organisers said in a statement yesterday.
IPL Chairman Ranjib Biswal said: “As pleased as we are of the brilliant response in the UAE, our next aim is to make the IPL more appealing to the fans back home.”
