Punjab Kings’ captain KL Rahul applauded his players after registering a convincing win over the five-time champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday.
After electing to field first, PBKS bowlers restricted Mumbai within 131/6. Rahul himself led from the front with an unbeaten 60 off 52 balls. With this, they also registered their second win of the tournament after having faced three straight losses.
“We don’t wanna get too ahead of ourselves, we’re slowly coming together as a team,” said KL Rahul during the post-match presentation.
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He praised the young leggie Ravi Bishnoi for his exceptional performance in the first game of the season who returned with 2/21 from his four overs. Mohammad Shami too picked up two wickets in his four overs while Deepak Hooda and Arshdeep took one wicket each.
“We add new names every year and we’ve to be patient. Hooda has been playing really well, Shahrukh’s taken his opportunities, and Bishnoi today. Ravi’s been working real hard with Anil bhai, there were a few things he had to correct, and he’s worked really hard and he’s held his composure against a solid batting line-up,” further added KL Rahul.
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On a tricky Chepauk pitch, Mumbai lost their way in between. Captain Rohit Sharma held one end up with 63 off 52 but fell in the 18th over. Apart from him, only Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard showed some impact with the bat. On the other hand, PBKS lost only one wicket in the form of opener Mayank Agarwal, courtesy of Rahul Chahar.
“Me and coach did have a long chat about batting second, I felt that the wicket was sticky and the first few games we’ve batted and felt that the bowlers were always under pressure. I felt it was important that bowlers get to bowl in those conditions and we heard that there was a lot of dew. So I felt like it can ease up and come on better – that didn’t happen, but we knew what to chase and that helped. The dry ball did play a big part, it just started ripping. When that happens it gets real hard to even get singles. But it was good of Chris, he figured out who to target, that’s the benefit of having someone like him,” concluded KL Rahul.
