Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Kl Rahul while reflecting on the loss against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in match 21 of IPL 2021 said that it was a poor performance from his side and he didn't have any words to say.
Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Punjab Kings by 5 wickets at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad to register their second win of the IPL 14.
Invited to bat, PBKS didn’t have a great start with the bat as they lost three wickets including skipper KL Rahul in the first 8 overs. A gritty inning of 31 runs by Mayank Agarwal and a brutal finish by Chris Jordan helped them go past the 100-run mark and post a total of just 123 runs in their innings
Unlike their batting, The KL Rahul-led side had a fantastic start with the ball as they took 3 wickets in the first three overs. However, Rahul Tripathi (41) and skipper Eoin Morgan (47*) joined hands together and overcame the shaky start, and ensured that their team returned to the winning ways.
IPL 2021: KKR break four-match losing streak with a clinical outing against PBKS
Taking about the loss at the post-match presentation, PBKS skipper KL Rahul said that it was a poor performance from his side and he doesn’t know what to say about the loss.
“I don’t know what to say, it was a poor performance from us. We should have adapted better on a new pitch, we could have applied a lot more with the bat and get that extra 20-30 runs,” KL Rahul said during the post-match presentation.
While talking about the wicket, Rahul said that it was a bit low and slow, and soft dismissals are costing them the matches.
“The wicket was a bit low and slow, but 120-130 was not enough. A few soft dismissals are costing us the game. The pitch was a bit two-paced and stayed up and down as well,” he said.
Rahul explained that it was difficult to adapt to the new venue. However, he also added that the batsmen should have shown more acumen as well.
“It was hard in the first six overs to understand the good shots to play on this pitch. It was expected that the pitch was difficult to assess at a new venue when you’re batting first, but we should have assessed and adapted quickly but we couldn’t do that. We have a few more games here and we hope to learn from our mistakes,” he said.
KL Rahul further lauded Ravi Bishnoi for a sensational catch that dismissed Sunil Narine and said the latter is working with Jhonty Rhodes who pushes players at every training session.
“That was a stunning catch, we’ve been a good fielding side. We have Jonty Rhodes who pushes the boys at every training session. He’s a tough taskmaster and he puts everyone to the test. He has great energy off the field and that rubs off on the players.” he concluded.
PBKS will next face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on 30th April at Ahmedabad.
(NEWS 18 inputs)
