We’d rather have this now than in an eliminator – Salt

Phil Salt Reflects on RCB's Loss to SRH

Phil Salt, Royal Challengers Bengaluru's opener, reflected on the team's 42-run defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad, saying that while it's disappointing to lose, it's better to have this game now rather than in an eliminator.

"I mean that's one way of looking at it. The other way of looking at it is, you don't mind having this game not in the playoffs," Salt said. "You can take it as a disappointment or you can take it for what it is. We've qualified but we've lost the game. No one likes to lose games of cricket. I'm hating the fact that we lost, as will everybody else in an RCB shirt, but we'd rather have this now than in an eliminator."

Salt praised his team's performance, saying they did a lot of good things while chasing down the target. However, he acknowledged that the margins were fine and that they didn't quite get over the line.

"We did a lot of good things (while) chasing it down. Obviously, we got it to a point at 15 overs where every single person in our dressing room would believe that we're going to win that game. Obviously, the margins are most of the time fine, but the margins for failure were very fine tonight. You hit an over of 20 at that time and you go a long way in icing the game. Cricket can be like that sometimes. We'll have a look at what we did well and what we can do better."

Salt also spoke about the team's mental preparation for the playoffs, saying they're not too far ahead of themselves and are focused on the next game.

"I can't sit here and tell you that we prefer to finish first, second, third or fourth. We've qualified for the playoffs, and once you're in the playoffs, you've got to go and play in a carefree manner and do what you can to win the trophy. We're not too far ahead of ourselves at the moment with that thinking. In a few days, we'll be playing here again against Lucknow in a game that we want to win and show everyone how good we are. It's pretty simple, pretty straightforward, we're just looking at the next game."