The massive 8-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in an IPL 2019 match on Saturday, 13th April, was the result of the quick downfall of wickets in middle and bowlers’ failure to adapt to the Mohali conditions quickly, opined King XI Punjab (KXIP) bowling coach Ryan Harris.
However, the KXIP started off their mission well to defend their descent total 173 at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, but they could not lunch their attack, failed to change the pace on the ball once the Mohali wicket slowed up and that is the stage where the hosts lost the match to RCB, says Harris.
The bowling further hailed Chris Gayle’s storming innings of 99* off 64 balls laced with 10 boundaries and 5 maximums that put KXIP into a good position against RCB, but said they struggled towards the end, lost a lot of wickets during the middle, eventually, lost the Mohali T20 to Bangalore. Harris also felt the hosts were 15-20 runs short against RCB.
Speaking to media at the post-match press conference, Harris said, “Once again, we got ourselves into a good position where we can launch but we probably haven't done that. I was speaking to the guys (and felt that) the wicket slowed up a bit through the middle.”
The coach further went on to explain, “We saw that with the way Chris Gayle started and then struggled towards the end. The RCB bowlers adapted pretty well and changed the pace on the ball. We've been in situations a few times now where we've been four down and we were probably 20 runs short of where we really should have been. Saying that, it was a pretty good inning from Chris Gayle.”
Harris signed off by saying, “I thought he led the team really well (with his batting). To be able to do that, trying to control the middle. I guess we lost a lot of wickets as well during the middle, doesn't really help as it stops the run rate.”
(With Cricketnext Inputs)
