NEW DELHI: Bangalore Royal Challengers captain Rahul Dravid is still searching for the winning formula and pinning his hopes on the return of Anil Kumble after his team slumped to its third successive defeat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday night.
The visitors lost by 10 runs to Delhi Daredevils and are lying at the bottom of the points table in the eight-team tournament.
Dravid did not hide his disappointment at one more defeat. "It was an important match for us and we should have won it," he said.
After four losses from five matches, Dravid accepted that his team was still missing the x-factor required for winning a Twenty20 game.
"We are losing the matches in the last few overs. It happened in the last match also. We had control over the match but lost it in the last couple of overs," said Dravid.
The Bangalore captain added that it was the Daredevils bowlers, who stole the match away from his team.
"The initial overs from Glenn McGrath and then Daniel Vettori's bowling in the death overs were crucial. They bowled tight," he said.
Dravid also defended his bowlers and said that the absence of the fifth bowler was a worrying factor. "The problem will be sorted out when Anil comes back. After he comes back we can give some 10-15 runs less, which is proving very costly for us," he said.
Kumble was out of the first three matches because of a groin problem but played in the last match.
The Bangalore skipper also defended his decision to bowl first on a batting track.
"Either ways it was a good match. We did not start bowling well but in the later stages pulled it back."
