By IANS,
Chennai : Striking a confident note, coach Kepler Wessels asserted that his team, the Chennai Super Kings, would yet bounce back against the Rajasthan Royals when the two meet here tomorrow in a crucial Indian Premier League tie.
“It is an excellent opportunity for us to measure ourselves against the tournament’s top team, but we are not under any pressure although I am aware that we need to win one of the two remaining games to qualify for the semi-finals,” said Wessels.
Speaking to the media here today, the coach said the Super Kings would make one change and also reshuffle their batting order, but declined to provide details.
The Super Kings are on 14 points from 12 matches while the Royals have already qualified for the semi-finals.
On the shock defeat to the Bangalore Royal Challengers here Wednesday, Wessels said it was pointless to keep looking back and pointed out that in a long tournament such as the IPL, teams were bound to lose a few matches.
“When we were at full strength, we won the first four games and on losing a few key players, we lost some matches. But more importantly, we always remained in the top four. At the start of the IPL, our two goals were to win as many matches as possible and also develop local cricketers,” he said.
He admitted that the loss of Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jacob Oram after four games did unsettle the team, but the early victories helped the team to remain in contention for the semi-finals.
Asked about the change in the batting order against the Challengers, Wessels said: “In Twenty20, you’ve got to think on your feet and you cannot conform to a set order.”
He said that it was vital to remain competitive. “You cannot win all 14 matches, but it is important to see where and when you went wrong, and move on,” he said.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Wessels felt that Super Kings would not be under any undue pressure and was optimistic of delivering a good result.