Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) opener Mayank Agarwal rued ill-timed wickets as his team suffered a painful two-run defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Abu Dhabi this Saturday (October 10) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
Chasing the target of 165, Agarwal (56) and fellow opener, skipper KL Rahul (74) struck half-centuries to take KXIP to 115/0 at one stage before a horrible middle-order collapse saw them end with 162/5 in response to KKR's 164/6.
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14 runs were needed off the final over but KKR's veteran spinner Sunil Narine (2/28) defended those. With six runs required from the final delivery, Glenn Maxwell (10*) hit Narine for a shot that almost touched the boundary cushions directly.
But in the end, KKR came out victorious and KXIP had to settle with another loss, their sixth of the tournament in seven outings, including a solitary win.
"We just lost wickets. It wasn't easy for the new batsman to come in and score. We lost wickets at the crucial time and we had to pay for it," said Mayank in the virtual press conference, as quoted by ANI.
Ravi Bishnoi (1/25) and Arshdeep Singh (1/25), the two youngsters, were once again KXIP's only bright spots amid the gloom. Agarwal lauded the efforts of the wrist-spinner and the pacer, saying they have shown "great character" through their performances so far.
"I think Ravi Bishnoi has been fantastic. He has been bowling really well. He is showing great character. He is always willing to take the aggressive option which is a good thing," he said, before adding on Arshdeep, "He is been bowling extremely well, even in the last game he had bowled really well."
But this defeat has left KXIP with a near-impossible task of saving their campaign, requiring at least six wins from the remaining seven games and some other results to go their way, if they are to sneak through to the playoffs somehow.
"It's gonna be hard. It's not gonna be easy. But we have to move on, seven more matches left and we must look towards the positive and play good cricket," signed off Agarwal.
The team next play Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Sharjah on Thursday (October 15).
