KL Rahul felt that death bowling was where they were struggling in previous matches and the performance on Thursday was an improvement.
KL Rahul. (Photo: Twitter/@IPL)
Kings XI Punjab captain KL Rahul has heaped praises on his bowlers for halting Sunrisers Hyderabad’s momentum in the death overs after David Warner and Jonny Bairstow had registered a mammoth opening partnership on Thursday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on Jonny Bairstow and Rashid Khan’s brilliance on Thursday to hand Kings XI Punjab by a massive 69-run defeat at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Bairstow smashed a quickfire 97 off 55 balls to help Hyderabad in posting challenging total of 201/6. Opting to bat first, Sunrisers were off to a brilliant start as Bairstow and captain David Warner added 160 runs for the opening wicket with the latter scoring 52 off 40.
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Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi, with three wickets in quick intervals had helped Punjab in making a small comeback. KXIP took six wickets and conceded 41 runs in the last four overs.
While they went on to lose the match by 69 runs, Rahul felt that death bowling was where they were struggling in previous matches and the performance on Thursday was an improvement.
“The last five games we struggled with our death bowling, but that was a positive today. The boys showed courage and pulled things bat, you expect them to score 230-plus after that start,” said Rahul after the match.
“When we lose wickets in the powerplay, it’s gonna be tough, especially when we’re playing only six batters. Getting Mayank (Agarwal) run-out wasn’t the ideal start, it was a disaster. It was also one of those days when everything we hit in the air went to the fielders,” he added.
Nicholas Pooran was almost the lone performer for KXIP with the bat. He smashed 77 off 37 balls but the second highest score for the team.
“Pooran is just so good to watch and he’s batting really well. Did the same thing every time he got a chance last year as well. One more thing for us to stay positive about, we know that Nicky will come good,” said Rahul.
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