Kings XI Punjab were on a high for the first half of the VIVO Indian Premier League as they stayed undefeated at home and were among the top three teams in the league at one stage. However, they seem to have slipped up a little in the later stages and now they find themselves with quite a challenge on their hands.

However, KXIP captain Ravichandran Ashwin felt here was no cause for alarm yet and sounded a warning to the other teams in the coming games.

“We have to win 2 out of 2. Most teams are in that position now apart from CSK and SRH,” Ashwin said at the post-match press conference. “Mumbai and Bangalore both came from behind and are now fighting to qualify.

“We could be very dangerous when we are desperate,” he cautioned.

Although disappointed that the middle-order has been unable to contribute to the team’s cause in spite of having big names, Ashwin said he has expected to have such a patch in the team’s run seeing the quality of players in every team.

“I did expect that a run like this will happen to us,” said Ashwin. “But I thought we will have one or two more wins when it happens than we do now. We’ve lost 3 on the bounce now and we can’t afford to lose the fourth.”

“If we are to reach the Playoffs or even win such a tournament we have to be realistic. We will have to play such tight games. IPL is not an easy tournament, every team is a good team and some time or the other they will have a good run. Hopefully our good run will start in the next game. “

The team will now face Mumbai Indians in what will be a crunch game for both sides. Ashwin was positive that the foreign batsmen in the team will enjoy the bounce in the Wankhede pitch and hoped they would be able to find form there.

“Mumbai is a place which has a lot of bounce and generally the foreign batsmen love it. KL (Lokesh Rahul) is batting well and if one of them come through then we should be able to do well,” the KXIP skipper said.