Just two wins in eight games notwithstanding, defending champions Mumbai Indians' batsman Ambati Rayudu still believes the team has a chance to make the semifinals if it raises its performance by a few notches.
"We have to win most of our away games as well as when we come back here. If we just play the way we are playing and just step it up a little bit, I think we should be okay," Rayudu said after his team's loss to Chennai Super Kings by four wickets here yesterday.
Two-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings also snapped the defending champions' 10 match winning spree at the Wankhede Stadium and when asked what went wrong, Rayudu said, "if I analyse it, maybe a few decisions here and there might have been tough."
The 28-year old said the title-holders played well and the match could have swung either ways.
"It (the wicket) was slightly slow, when you compare it to the last two games. Ball was not really coming onto the bat and maybe towards the end there was dew on the wicket so it was skidding a little bit.
"But even in early part of their innings, they were struggling because the ball was stopping and coming. I feel all in all we played a good game. Maybe it could have gone either ways," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"But even in early part of their innings, they were struggling because the ball was stopping and coming. I feel all in all we played a good game. Maybe it could have gone either ways," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"The wicket for spinners was gripping and turning. They had more spinners in their team, three actually. Even Harbhajan (Singh), when he was bowling it was gripping and turning. We thought at time-out, anywhere close to 160 was a good score on this wicket. So, we were close to it (with 157)," the Baroda player added.
Rayudu notched up his first half century in the tournament this year, a 43-ball 59, and said he was pleased the way he was batting.
"In T20, when you bat in different numbers your role differs from game to game. I cannot say my role everyday is to walk in and hold one end. I am pretty happy with the way I am batting and I don't really evaluate my batting in T20 format as such but I am happy with the way I am batting," he said.