‘Positive atmosphere & newfound aggression’

Royal Challengers Bengaluru took another big step in their late push for a place in the Playoffs on Sunday night their fifth consecutive victory catapulting them to fifth place in the IPL 2024 standingsSixmatch losing streakHaving occupied the cellar for more than a month RCB have roused themselves into form on the back of an aggressive mindset resulting from losing six matches in a row That aggression has best manifested itself in the bowling with their assortment of pacers and spinners discovering their mojo towards the backend of the competitionHaving ridden their luckmdashDelhi Capitals put down four chancesmdashto stack up 187 for nine after being put in RCB all but sealed the deal in the first 21 deliveries of the DC chase reducing them to 30 for fourAmong the four dismissed were Australians David Warner falling in his comeback game in the first over to leftarm spinner Swapnil Singh and the dangerous Jake FraserMcGurk unfortunately run out at the bowlerrsquos end off a deflection from Yash Dayal just when he was beginning to tee off Axar Patel standing in as captain for the suspended Rishabh Pant waged a lone battle with a powerful halfcentury but he found no support as DC were bowled out for 140 to concede a heavy 47run defeatldquoThis was our chancerdquo rued James Hopes the DC bowling coach ldquoNow we need to win and win big but our future is not in our own hands and thatrsquos not a good feelingrdquo he added The big defeat sent DCrsquos runrate plummeting to 0482 ahead of their final clash against Lucknow Super Giants in Delhi on TuesdayAlso ReadKL Rahul vs Sanjiv Goenka row lsquoThere is no harm in being respectfulrsquoCrucial CSK clash nextRCB who also have 12 points take on Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday by which time they will know exactly what they need to do to push for a place in the next stage ldquoWe have already had a couple of long breaks so I donrsquot think this one will affect our momentumrdquo said Dayal the leftarm quick who was one of RCBrsquos bowling heroes with figures of three for 20 from 31 oversldquoEven when we were losing no one was pointing fingers at anyone All through the season we were positive And now we have become more attacking This supportive atmosphere coupled with a newfound aggressive approach seems to be the winning formula When I start bowling my aim is to just remove the batter in front of me not try to stop the flow of runs The credit for this should go to the coachesrdquoCameron Green was the Player of the Match for his 32 not out and one for 19 from four overs ldquoI got enough time in India to get used to these conditions there is a bit more in it for the bowlers Chinnaswamy is a small ground but there is help for bowlersrdquo he said320RCB pacer Yash Dayalrsquos figures against DC on Sunday5thRCBrsquos position in the IPL points table after their win over DC