Want to dedicate this match to fans: Gurkeerat Singh

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the ongoing Indian Premier League on Saturday and their player Gurkeerat Singh has said that they want to dedicate this match to their fans for their unflinching support this season.

"That is exactly what we discussed, we wanted to be happy and have fun. We wanted to play this game for the crowd as they have supported us throughout. We just wanted to dedicate this match to the crowd," Singh told reporters.

In the chase of 184 runs, RCB were reeling at 20 for three, but Shimron Hetmyer and Gurkeerat Singh played out of their skins to take the team closer to victory. Singh after playing a knock of 65 runs said that he just wanted to deliver for the team as he got an opportunity in the IPL after almost two years.

"I think it's not pressure, it's about the opportunity. This year I played in the IPL after almost two years and I just wanted to deliver for my team," Singh said.

"Whenever you go into bat, you have to prove yourself and do well for the team. Fortunately for me, I had many overs left, so I could build my innings. Usually what happens to the middle over batsmen is you don't get balls and you just have to hit out in the last three or four overs. I was fortunate to enter in the fourth over and I had many balls at my disposal," he added.

Hyderabad's bowler Rashid Khan was taken to the cleaners by Hetmyer and Singh. The 28-year- old Singh said that the plan for him was to anchor the innings and let Hetmyer go after the bowling.

"That was the plan. I had to anchor the innings and let Hetmyer play his natural game. That's what we were focussing on and I thought whenever I get a ball, I'll try to hit to the boundary but I'll not take much risk," Singh said.

With this win, RCB finished off their season with 11 points from 14 matches.

As far as Sunrisers Hyderabad are concerned, their playoffs hopes hang by a thread as with this loss they are now dependent on Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab.

Both these teams need to lose their respective matches for Hyderabad to progress to the playoffs stage.