After scoring a total of 42 runs in the first four matches of the IPL 2022, Punjab Kings skipper Mayank Agarwal managed to finally score a half century in their win against the Mumbai Indians in Match 23 of the TATA IPL 2022. The 50 run knock helped the team in beating Mumbai by 23 runs.

Mayank was delighted to be awarded the Man of the Match award and expressed his views as well.

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He said, “It was a good night, very very happy to contribute to the team’s win but the crucial thing for us was the two points. I can’t really say that it was just the runs on the board. I thought this game had a lot of ups and downs, there were a lot of crucial moments and more often than not we were nailing those crucial moments and winning those crucial moments,”

Agarwal was delighted after winning the match which got them some crucial points on the table.

“Somehow or the other, when the game was 50/50, those moments came towards us. So it wasn’t just the batting. It was those periods of the game.

“At the start of the tournament, we said that’s the brand of cricket we want to play. We want to play aggressive, hard cricket, and with that we need to show good intent. I think this time around we were a lot smarter with the bat as well. So we showed great intent but we were a lot smarter so that we could keep wickets in hand and use the death as well,” he said.

“I thought in the last game against Gujarat, we gave wickets to Rashid when it wasn’t required. But this time we were a lot more aware and careful. We made sure to not give wickets to their main bowlers and if it’s your day, you have to take the team through. It can get hard,” he further added.

Agarwal said that his side had to bring a slight tweak in their strategy in order to tackle the batting attack by Dewald Brevis who scored a blistering 49 off 25 balls. His partnership with Tilak (36) helped the Mumbai team stabilize their innings after losing 2 quick wickets at just 32. 

“Credit to (Dewald) Brevis the way he took on Rahul (Chahar) and got the better of him, but then a great comeback from Rahul as well. After that one over, the other three overs he bowled were tight. Obviously when Tilak and Brevis were going the way they were going, we had to change our strategy and get into the main bowlers to try to get a wicket and luckily that happened through a runout.”

Agarwal also said that his bowling unit has been brilliant so far and that the side does not rely on Kagiso Rabada alone.

“We don’t rely on just Rabada, yes he leads the attack for us but we have two other guys to come and do that. It’s nice and very happy to have three wins. I think we’re playing good cricket overall and if we get 5-10% better every game, I think we’ll go on to do special things,” Agarwal further added.

(WITH INPUTS FROM IANS)