Punjab Kings, the table-toppers of the league stage, will have another opportunity to reach the final.
Punjab’s innings folded for a paltry 101 in 14.1 overs after being invited to bat first by RCB skipper Rajat Patidar. Marcus Stoinis was the top scorer with 26 off 17 balls.
Chasing the target, RCB got over the line in 10 overs, led by a blazing unbeaten half-century from opener Phil Salt (56* off 27).
Speaking at the post-match presentation, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer expressed his disappointment while emphasizing that they need to look back and see what went wrong for them.
“Not a day to forget, but got to go back to the drawing board. We lost a lot of wickets. There’s a lot to go back and study on. I am not doubting my decisions, to be honest. Whatever we did in terms of planning, outside of the ground, whatever we did, I think it was on point. Just that we couldn’t execute it on the field," Shreyas said.
He refused to blame the bowlers and acknowledged the failure of the batting unit. While Iyer asked his batters to assess the situation and play accordingly, he remains confident in his side’s ability to turn things around in the second eliminator.
“Can’t even blame the bowlers, as it was a low total to defend. We’ve got to work on our batting, especially on this wicket. In all the games we have played here, there has been some variable bounce. We can’t give such reasons because we are professionals at the end of the day, and we have to bat according to the situation, and we have to live up to it," the captain remarked.
“We have lost the battle, but not the war," he concluded.
Having finished as table-toppers in the league stage, Punjab Kings will get another opportunity to reach the final. They will now face the winner of Eliminator clash between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2, scheduled for June 1 at Ahmedabad.