KL Rahul looked at the positives after successfully defending 169 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. “What’s pleasing is that we’ve found a way to stay in the game and give ourselves a good chance of winning. We did that again today,” said the Lucknow Super Giants captain.

“Not ideal to lose three wickets early (27/3), but we need to give ourselves a little time since we bat deep and we have power at the death. That’s something we need to learn as a batting group... how to play risk-free cricket while looking for fours. But with the ball we’ve been brilliant in all three games,” Rahul said.

“You don’t want to plan too much as openers... We have the extra batter with Jason (Holder) coming in, the plan is to put the pressure on the opposition. That’s the body language we want to carry.”

Rahul lauded Deepak Hooda’s 51 off 33 balls. “I have been playing with him for the last 3-4 seasons and we talk a lot. He loves batting in the nets and never comes out. He’s keen to learn, he had to wait for chances and he’s using that.

“He’s become somebody whom we can rely on in the middle-order. He soaked in the pressure and took on the bowling. Really pleased with the way he’s batting.”

All-rounder Krunal Pandya also shared similar sentiments.

“The brand of cricket we are playing is heartening to see, the self-belief is exceptional. Focus is always on how we can get better as a team, if we are on that path, we will see some good results going forward as well,” Pandya said.