Pune: Thanks to some fantastic batting by Aaron Finch and Robin Uthappa, Pune Warriors managed to put a brake on their 11-match losing streak by beating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in the IPL match at Subroto Roy Sahara Stadium here on Thursday. Disappointed RR skipper Rahul Dravid said that losing wickets at regular intervals made the difference.

"We just kept losing wicket. Just when we thought we could accelerate, we lost Rahane and then we lost Binny. I got myselfout. Maybe we needed 15 runs more. But the way they batted, even that might not have been enough,” said Dravid in all praise for Finch.

“We have seen Finch before and we discussed him. They have plenty of power-hitters in the team, and if they come off, they can win the match for Pune. We need to keep improving. We look to forget this match and kick on," said Dravid during the post-match presentation.

Meanwhile Angelo Mathews seemed quite happy with the win and admitted that they needed it very badly. "We needed that badly, to be honest. We were pretty good in the field. Our approach has totally changed in the batting. We backed Finch and he did a brilliant job," said Mathews.

Man of the Match Aaron Finch, said, "It was nice a win. We knew we had to get off to a good start. The wicket gets a bit slower and lower as the ball gets older. Credit goes to Uthappa as his 32 off 16 really set us up. Today was our day, it was nice to get away with it. I thought our bowlers did a great job to restrict them after that partnership between Rahul and Rahane."

Meanwhile Robin Uthappa too said that his team needed this win. "We really needed this. We have worked hard as a team. Donald has helped everybody keep calm, deal with the pressure. I think we have got a hang of this wicket now. It is a young wicket and is still settling in. It will take time to become a flat Twenty20 wicket. I was pleased to get the team off to a good start. We have been a bit apprehensive with our approach, probably because of the losses before," said Uthappa.
By ISN