Cumbrian Ben Stokes says Rajasthan Royals need to get the first win of their 2019 Indian Premier League campaign sooner rather than later

Royals’ side, including England’s Cumbrian all-rounder Stokes, have lost to Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings in their three fixtures so far, ahead of today’s match (3.30pm start) against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

“We just need to get off the mark and get that ‘W’ next to our name and, hopefully, our campaign can get some momentum from there,” Cockermouth’s Stokes said at a press conference.

“Our first three games, we’ve put ourselves in really good positions to win all three. It’s just winning those crucial moments.

“The crucial moment on Sunday was our last over, and unfortunately, we couldn’t cross the line. There’s always been one point in the other two games where we haven’t been the better team in that.

“We can take a lot of positives… I mean, losing your first three games, you probably wouldn’t say you can take positives from that! But we’re trying to. There’s no point looking back.

"We’ve got to concentrate on the next games we’ve got because, if we lose four or five on the bounce, it’s going to be really tough to come back from that.”

In their defeat to Chennai, 27-year-old Stokes top-scored with 46 for Rajasthan and ended with figures of 1-30, taking the wicket of Shane Watson.