We'd rather have this now than in an eliminator: Salt on loss to SRH

Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener Phil Salt believes their defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad could serve as a useful wake-up call before the Indian Premier League play-offs. He said it was better to suffer such a loss in the league stage rather than in an eliminator.

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Chasing a daunting target of 232, the RCB opening duo of Salt (62) and Virat Kohli (43) provided a blistering start. However, the rest of the batting line-up faltered, and they were bowled out for 189 in 19.5 overs.

RCB have already secured a spot in the play-offs, and Salt insisted that the defeat should not shake their confidence. "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. So, yeah, you can take it as a disappointment or you can take it for what it is," he said at the post-match press conference.

"We're qualified, we've lost a game. No one likes to lose games of cricket. I'm hating the fact we've lost, as will everybody else in an RCB shirt. You'd rather have that now than you would in an eliminator, let's say.