With their fourth loss in five outings leaving Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) precariously placed eighth in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 standings, their middle-order batsman Mandeep Singh assessed that the bowling attack has been a major weakness for the team so far in the competition.
KXIP faced a ten-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai this Sunday (October 4) despite posting a winnable score of 178/4 in 20 overs.
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Either side of wrist-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (0/33), the KXIP bowlers were taken to the cleaners as CSK openers Shane Watson (83*) and Faf du Plessis (87*) dominated the proceedings.
"Definitely, it is going to be tough from here, we need to win at least seven from our remaining nine matches. It will be challenging but I think our main issue is bowling," Mandeep, who made a fine 16-ball 27 in his first game of the tournament, was quoted as saying by ANI at the post-match presser.
"We have been struggling with the death bowling. We went in with Jordon in this game but Watson and Faf finished the game early. Hopefully, we can address our bowling and can put on a good show (in the remaining matches)."
"I feel we need to keep the fighting spirit going and we need to look at winning one game at a time," he added.
Mandeep's innings included two massive sixes as he played the aggressor in a partnership with skipper KL Rahul (63), who once again tried to bat deep. However, just when the talented right-hander was looking good for more, he got caught playing an extravagant drive through the off-side.
Apart from those two, Mayank Agarwal (26), Nicholas Pooran (33) also played useful knocks while Glenn Maxwell (11*) and Sarfaraz Khan (14*) tried playing big shots at the end.
"Honestly, I was trying to spend a bit of time in the middle. I was playing a match after eight-nine months. Rahul also told me to get my eye in and have a few balls. I was looking to be positive. If the ball is in my arc, definitely I will hit it," he said.
"Honestly, bit disappointing (to get out at the time). I was striking the ball well. I would have loved to continue my innings. Maybe that was the difference, maybe 10-12 runs. If me, Nicholas (Pooran) or Rahul would have stayed till the 20th over, the score could have been 190-200."
Coming back to the bowling, new-ball bowlers, Mohammad Shami (0/35), KXIP's sole bright spot among the pacers, and Sheldon Cottrell, (0/30) couldn't get the early breakthroughs that the team needed on the day. Pacer Chris Jordan (0/42) and left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar (0/42) couldn't then recover the lost ground either.
"I think our strength has been that we have been taking wickets upfront, but that did not happen in the match against CSK. Both Watson and Faf took the game away from us. Our strength in the last few games has been that we have been taking wickets in the first six overs," said Mandeep.
