Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Johan Botha on Friday stated that IPL 2012 is a long tournament and losses in one or two games should not affect the team. Rajasthan lost their first match of IPL 5 against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday by 27 runs at Wankhede Stadium.
Published: Apr 13, 2012, 04:22 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 13, 2012, 04:22 PM (IST)
Johan Botha has contributed to the progress of Rajasthan Royals with his all round performance © AFP
Mumbai: 13 Apr, 2012
Rajasthan Royals all-rounder Johan Botha on Friday stated that IPL 2012 is a long tournament and losses in one or two games should not affect the team. Rajasthan lost their first match of IPL 5 against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday by 27 runs at Wankhede Stadium.
“In such along tournament [that] you are going to lose matches. But your luck is as good as your next game. Hopefully, we can bounce back pretty quickly. We have got a tough trip here, Kolkata and then Bangalore; two of the strongest teams in the IPL. If we can win those games, we would have had a great trip. We have upbeat and positive characters [in our team] and that will keep boys going,” Botha said.
Rajasthan won their first two games in the tournament which they played at home. The loss against Mumbai was their first away match.
In a high scoring match against Mumbai Indians, Botha was at the receiving end after being smashed for 22 runs in a single over with some big hits by Keiron Pollard, who scored 64 off 33 balls.
“He is a very good T20 player. He has got the power. When it’s his day, he gets going and it’s hard to stop him. It was his day today, and [he] backed it well with four wickets towards the end, which slowed us down and we couldn’t quite get there. He scored 50 off 20-odd balls and [took] four wickets, that’s massive, and when you have guys like that in the team [it] is great.”, Boha was quoted as saying by IPLT20.com
Botha added that his personal form wasn’t impressive but remained optimistic about performing well in the remaining matches.
“Personally [it’s] not the start I would have liked. I would say I have started a bit slow. There are 13 more matches to go, and it’s a long tournament. Like Warnie [Shane Warne] always used to say, you are only as good as your next match, so shape up in the good for your team,” he said.
The Royals chase didn’t get off to a good start, but some clean hitting by Owais Shah took them to striking distance of the target.
Backing the splendid batting performance Botha said, “Owais played one of the better knocks in T20s you would see. He kept us right in the game in a tough chase. 190 was never going to be easy, and he made it look so easy. It was a massive positive for us in the game. It will be great if we could help him out in a couple of games and win them.”
Rajasthan Royals will next play Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday at the Eden Gardens.
