While chasing a target of 186 against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), under the captaincy of KL Rahul, Punjab Kings needed just 10 runs off the last 15 balls with the equation coming down to 4 from 6 balls with 8 wickets in hand. However, RR managed to win the game by defending 4 runs successfully owing to pinpoint yorkers of Kartik Tyagi, who took the team over the line as he showed tremendous composure to give away just 1 run and pick up 2 wickets in the last over.
Kartik Tyagi nailed his yorkers and managed to take the wickets of Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda as Punjab failed to score not able to score 3 runs from their last 3 deliveries. It’s not the first time Punjab Kings have choked in crunch situations as KL Rahul’s men were unable to hold their nerves more than once in IPL 2020 in the UAE last year.
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Speaking after the heartbreaking loss, Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul said, “It’s a tough one to swallow. We have been a team that has experienced games like these before. We need to see how we can handle pressure better. Trying to finish in the 18th over sometimes you go too hard and lose your way and let the opponents in. We haven’t learned from previous mistakes.”
With the crushing defeat, Punjab Kings is now standing in 7th place with just 3 wins from 9 matches. With their playoff chances taking a big blow, KL Rahul said the Kings will look to win their next 5 matches to stand a chance to reach the playoffs.
Despite the heartbreaking loss, KL Rahul saw positives from the game as he highlighted the efforts of Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami at the death. Rajasthan looked set for a 200-plus total after reaching 164 for 4 in 16 overs. But Arshdeep (5/32) and Shami (3/21) pulled things back to restrict the Royals to 185.
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Elboarating the same, KL Rahul said, “We pulled things back quite nicely with the ball, kept taking wickets, which is very crucial in this format. Getting runs for me, Mayank and even Aiden in his first IPL game was important.”
