Mumbai;- Victory tomorrow against the high-flying Mumbai Indians will give Royal Challengers Bangalore the momentum to reach the play-off stages of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, said all rounder David Wiese here today.
“It’s a big game for us. If we can get a win under the belt here, we can build a momentum moving into the play-offs.
Mumbai are playing well at the moment and they beat Chennai last night. It’s a team in form and it’s going to be a tough game. In terms of our campaign, we need to get a couple of wins under our belt to make play-off position,” said the South African player at the pre-match media conference at the Wankhede Stadium.
RCB were lying fifth with 11 points from 10 games, a rung below MI who have accumulated 12 points from 11 games and more importantly are on a splendid five-game winning spree.
Wiese, who has played in eight games and taken 10 wickets apart from scoring over a hundred runs, said RCB were peaking at the right time.
“It’s a business end of the tournament and a lot of games close to each other. You don’t want to peak too early in the tournament, it’s always nice to play your best cricket towards the end of the tournament and that’s definitely where we are at the moment. So moving forward, so many games in short succession, you need to pick up a couple of wins and build a momentum leading into the play-offs,” he said.
While praising Australia pacer Mitchell Starc, who has galvanized the team’s bowling attack since he played his first game, for his ability to take wickets and bowl well at the death, 29-year-old Wiese did not agree that the team was too dependent on their Big Three of Chris Gayle, captain Virat Kohli and A B de Villiers in batting.
“Look at the stats and you can see what impact he has made to our bowling. He has been fantastic. He is a guy who has set the tone from the start. In every game he’s taken early wickets and put the team on the back foot. And in death he’s the best in the world,” said Wiese about Starc.
