Kings XI Punjab skipper R Ashwin heaped effusive praise over Sam Curran and Mohammad Shami for pulling off an unlikely victory for their team on Monday (April 1) against Delhi Capitals in another IPL 2019 encounter at Mohali. 

Delhi were batting on 144/3 at the time and looked all set to chase down Punjab's modest target of 167, before Shami clean bowled a rampaging Rishabh Pant to kickstart an incredible collapse for the away team, which lost its final seven wickets for just another eight runs and got bundled out 15 runs short of their end goal. 

Apart from Shami, who returned with match-figures of 2/27, Sam Curran (4/11) also bowled magnificently well and received the "Player-of-the-Match" award. Hence, Punjab's main fast bowling duo was deservingly acknowledged by its captain. 

"When Rishabh hit the six, we just needed to hang in there," said Ashwin at the post-match presentation ceremony. "Credit to Shami and Curran. We were probably 25 runs short. We backed ourselves to defend with three spinners. All in all, dew also came in and played a factor."

Earlier, in absence of Chris Gayle, Curran came out to open the batting with KL Rahul (15) and played a useful knock of 20 in just 10 balls. But Punjab's middle-order delivered the most crucial innings, as Sarfaraz Khan (39), David Miller (43), Mandeep Singh (29*) helped their side post a total of 166.

"We were gonna bat first. We thought Chris wasn't there. We wanted to give him (Curran) all the license up front," added Ashwin, who himself bowled a fine spell of 2/31. "We thought there was grip there (on the surface)."

Ashwin clarified the reason behind Kings XI Punjab making constant but flexible changes to its line-up and said, "We are quite a bunch of experienced cricketers and a lot of youngsters. We have to keep ourselves fresh." 

"We are having a very good experience. I have never seen a crowd like this in Mohali. It was extremely loud," he concluded. 

(Inputs from IANS)