Ajinkya Rahane has said the Rising Pune Supergiants, new entrants in the Indian Premier League, needed one more game at least to cobble together as one.
Rahane's classy, unbeaten 66 (in 42 balls), and opening stand of 78 with South African Faf du Plessis (34) guided the Pune team past the modest target of 122, set by defending champions Mumbai Indians, with 32 balls to spare.
"It was important to gel together and adjust to each other quickly as a team. We had a couple of good practice sessions. A few of us had played together for CSK (suspended Chennai Super Kings), three of us played for RR (suspended Rajasthan Royals). It's important to play as a team and getting together will be very important.
"Frankly speaking, it will take may be one more game to gel together as a team. I feel we have a superb team, great batsmen, good experienced cricketers as well as a good bowling attack," he said.
The Mumbaikar was also full of praise for former England player Kevin Pietersen (21 not out) for the way he was encouraged to go for his shots.
"It was fun batting with KP. When he came in, he told me to just play my shots the way I was playing and he will give me the stand.
"It was a very different Kevin Pietersen who was saying 'I will give you the strike, you play your shots'.
"It was good he told me such things, good to have him in our team. He is an experienced cricketer in this format."
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