T20 Cricket News

Anil Kumble, the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, expressed disappointment over the shift of the IPL semi-finals from Bangalore to Mumbai owing to security concerns, but was focused on the job at hand.

"When we set out the goal was to get into the semi-finals and we achieved that. We need to win two games from here to take the trophy. It's a bit disappointing we had to shift. It is not in our control. As players we have to play the game. The home crowd would have been great for us. The entire Bangalore crowd and supporters of Royal Challengers would be rooting for us tomorrow," Kumble said.

Bangalore has qualified for their second consecutive IPL semi-final, while their opponents, table-toppers Mumbai Indians have made it to the last four for the first time in three attempts. Kumble believes that the prior experience will serve his team well in the crunch game.

"We have played a semi-final before. That's probably the experience I would like to carry forward. It's nice to be in this situation where you are in the semi-finals of a big tournament," Kumble said. "We would like to take the confidence of our first game against Mumbai in Mumbai (at the Brabourne stadium) and also the experience of having played in the semi-finals before in the IPL."

Though Bangalore prevailed in the first match between the two sides, Mumbai thumped them in the return game, which was also Bangalore's final league fixture. Kumble however chose not to focus much on that defeat. "We would like to concentrate on what skills we can execute and how well we can execute our skills, rather than worry about what happened in the previous game or how Mumbai came into the semi-finals. We would like to concentrate on matters within our control, trying to do the things to the best of our ability.

"Mumbai Indians probably did not expect to play the semi-finals here. In that sense the pressure is probably on them. It's a must-win situation for all," he said.

Pitches have slowed down over the course of the IPL, but Kumble was confident about the condition of the DY Patil track for the crunch game. "This is a fresh track, only two games have been played here and the semi-finals the third. In that sense it will be a fresh track. I'm sure it will be a good sporting wicket. Looking at the pitch it certainly looks a good wicket. For bowlers who can bend their back there's a bit in it. For batsmen it will come on nicely as well," he said.

News Source