RCB well-equipped to tackle tricky situations, feels Mandeep

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New Delhi, April 12 - Bruised by the opening loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Mandeep Singh is confident that the team is equipped to tackle surprise packages like Sunil Narine and Nitish Rana -- who hurt them the other day -- as they prepare to host Kings XI Punjab in an IPL tie on Friday.

RCB suffered a narrow four-wicket loss in their Indian Premier League (IPL) opener to KKR at the Eden Gardens with part-time off-spinner Nitish delivering back-to-back blows with the key wickets of skipper Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers before Narine starred with a 19-ball 50 to dash their hopes.

Mandeep, who struck an 18-ball 37 to help RCB reach a challenging 176/7, acknowledged that they were caught off guard when Nitish was handed the ball and the part-timer delivered with rich dividends.

"Nitish has bowled just one over till now, but has succeeded in taking the big fishes (Kohli and de Villiers). I think it was a gamble from KKR and it worked out well for them," Mandeep told IANS over phone.

"Narine has played quite a few important knocks against us. Our bowlers have a separate meeting where they will definitely discuss on strategies to tackle such surprises like Narine."

Asked if the team is equipped to handle such situations in the upcoming matches, Mandeep said: "We haven't discussed on such surprises but once you are in the field you need to tackle those tricy situations. We obviously have the potential to handle such situations."

Besides his personal form, Mandeep also counted on the other positives derived despite the loss.

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