Ravichandran Ashwin was a disappointed captain after Kings XI Punjab’s annihilating 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore in Indore on Monday (May 14).

After being put into bat by RCB skipper Virat Kohli, KXIP were bundled out for a mere 88 in 15.1 overs. The collapse was such that Punjab lost their last 8 wickets for just 52 runs. Aaron Finch was the top-scorer for KXIP with 26 runs off 23 balls.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Ashwin said: "Really disappointing. Wasn't a professional effort from us. That has been the story for us. It's been the bowlers who have done it right and got the points for us. The batsmen have struggled more often than not. Anyway we need to chin up and move forward. Need to try and make sure to lift ourselves. It was very simple. We have never got to 20 overs with 3 down or 4 down so far in the tournament. That's what we wanted to achieve but the wheels came off at the right time for us."

In reply, RCB rode on Virat Kohli’s 28-ball 48* and Parthiv Patel’s 22-ball 40* to chase down the paltry target of 89 with 71 balls to spare.  

It was KXIP’s three consecutive defeats and they are now finding themselves at the fifth spot on the points table. Punjab have lost their last three matches by the margins of 15 runs, 31 runs & 10 wickets and consequently their net run rate has gone down significantly. No wonder, Ashwin urged his foreign players to lift their performance in the remaining two games.

"We lost by a big margin and our net run rate has come down. We need to go to Mumbai and try to put them to bed, then we go to Pune to play Chennai. Most of these guys have played for a long time now, need their experience to count. We have a reasonable bowling attack that has fired for us. Time for the internationals to step up," Ashwin concluded.

Kings XI Punjab will take on Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in their next two matches on Wednesday (May 16) and Sunday (May 20) respectively.