Since 2008, Albie Morkel has spent most of his Aprils and Mays in the scorching heat of Chennai, scripting astonishing IPL victories with his mates at Chennai Super Kings. This year is different. Now, the South African all-rounder calls Bangalore his home in India. Now, he dons the Royal Challengers Bangalore red. While Albie feels well settled in the RCB setup, he yearns to be part of a winning team – a winning RCB team. After a fine start in the tournament, RCB’s seemingly indomitable batting has lost its spark. The latest pitfall was the 32-run pounding at the hands of KXIP, which handed them a rare loss on their home turf. Albie told IPLT20.com that he cannot wait for the day when he would hear the crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium roar after the home team’s victory. He spoke about the minor changes in his role in his IPL team and made some pretty honest assessment of what is ailing the boys from Bangalore. Here are excerpts from his interview: Before this season, the only IPL team you’d been part of was CSK. How has your experience with RCB been so far? In the first week or so, it was a bit different for me to see and adjust to the dynamics and the setup of the team. But the guys made me feel very welcome. At the moment, it is not going too well for us as a team, but it is still an enjoyable experience. What is ailing the RCB batting? It just hasn’t clicked; I don’t know why. In five out of the seven games we have played, we have lost too many wickets up front. We are not playing too well as a team yet. There are six more games left and we have to win all of them to have a chance at the playoffs. Has your role changed here as compared to what it was at CSK? What has changed here is that I bat a bit higher – at No.6 or 7 – whereas at CSK, I came in at No.8. So, there’s more chance for me with the bat here. However, since we haven’t fired as a batting unit yet, it makes the drill quite difficult for someone coming in later in the order. I am not talking about me in particular, but anyone coming in at that position. When the number in the wickets column is low, it is nice to come in with the platform already set and then to build on it. Having said that, I have always wanted a bigger batting role, which I have been getting here, and from a personal point of view, I am very disappointed that I haven’t made it count with big scores. But I am not beating myself up yet. How about the bowling role? At CSK, I always bowled with the new ball – like I do here – and they also used me in the death overs. That is something that’s not happening here at RCB, since we have specialists in Starc, Aaron and Dinda, when he plays. That’s the only change. You guys bowled too many leg-side wides today. Were you trying to do anything in particular and failing? Yes, we did bowl too many leg-side wides, and honestly, they weren’t the result of us trying to do something. It was just the lack of discipline. From the bowling unit’s perspective, we did so well in the first five matches, but in the last two, we’ve given away far too many extras. Against MI, we gave away 25 extras, which is way too many if you want to win T20 games. We will try and correct that in the coming matches; we will have to. You got quite a few edges and a close lbw shout against Sehwag in the initial overs. Unlucky not to get him early? Actually, it happened with both openers. I was so close to squeezing through an lbw and a bowled there. I wouldn’t say I was unlucky, but like you said, on another night, I could have picked up two quick wickets there. That didn’t happen today and they played really well. Their batsmen put us under pressure right away by hitting a boundary early in almost every over. That makes it very difficult to restrict them. Would you have fancied bowling more than just two deliveries to David Miller? He is in fantastic form at the moment and a bit of a nightmare for all the bowlers in the tournament. We’re good mates off the field and I am really happy for him. I hope his form continues, although it would have been a nice feeling to get him out. Looking forward to your first match against CSK? We have got two games in a row against them and I am looking forward to that. There are no hard feelings there; I still enjoy seeing the guys there and the coaching staff. I am looking forward to playing in Chennai again; it will be nice to go back and play in front of that crowd again. Which crowd takes the cake when it comes to supporting the home team – Chennai or Bangalore? Today was my first game in Bangalore for RCB and we lost. I’d like to hear them when we win. But it seems to be a bit louder here; the crowd is almost on you and very close to the field. The crowd in both stadiums is fanatic for their team, but the noise in this ground is a bit different because it’s so close to the field.