Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 15 (ANI): Following the loss to Mumbai Indians (MI), Punjab Kings (PBKS) assistant coach Brad Haddin said that while there were good signs from the match, the team has not been able to handle pressure in their run of five successive losses and need to find a way to get out of the rut they are in.
After a dream start with a seven-match unbeaten streak, spanning six wins and a no-result, PBKS’ campaign continues to worsen, registering their fifth successive loss at Dharamsala on Thursday. This plunge means that PBKS will have to win their last remaining two matches and will also have to pray that other results help them.
Speaking during the post-match presser, Haddin said that they had the right playing XI, which felt in control of the game till the final three overs till a “special knock” from Tilak Varma, who scored 75* in 33 balls in the 201-run chase, took MI home.
“I think we had the right team. We were comfortable with what we had. I thought we did really well to get to the total we did. Mumbai bowled well, we had some really good heat in the back end of the game to get us to what we thought was a really good total. And we felt like we were in control of the game to the last three overs. It took a pretty special knock from Tilak to get Mumbai home,” he said.
Haddin said that pressure is always going to be there in the IPL, especially at the back-end of the competition, and teams have to handle big moments and pressure if they want to progress.
“There are good signs out of tonight’s match. The results is hurting the change rooms, heard in there. And as I said, we were beaten by a really good innings. We are going to take what we did well out of tonight and take that over into our preparation for next day and have a look at what things we can improve on. We have to find a way to get out of the rut we’re in at the moment. We have still got two games to go. And the one thing is our destiny is still in our hands,” he said.
“We just have not been able to handle the pressure in the last few defeats. We have not played our best cricket when we need to, which has been disappointing. We are as disappointed as you guys are with the way we started the tournament and where we are now. There is no hiding that we’ve got to play better. There is good things that we’re doing. There are things that we need to continue to work on. And we have got to find a way. And now, there is no tomorrow. There’s no talking about anything else.
We have to win our remaining games now,” he added.
Haddin also rubbished all the talks about tensions within the dressing room and chatter on social media about the team, saying that external noise is part of playing professional sport.
“The dressing room’s been good. I am not up with social media. So I do not know really what the situation is there. But from inside the camp, we have just got to find a way to win a cricket game. Whatever the external noise is, that is part of playing professional sport. It is not always just about the field. You have got to deal with everything outside it and make sure when you get across that line, you are in the right headspace to play. And that is exactly what we need to do,” he said.
Coming to the match, MI opted to bowl first. A 50-run stand between Priyansh Arya (22 in 17 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran Singh started things well for PBKS. Prabhsimran had some struggles with his tempo, but managed to score 57 in 32 balls, with six fours and four sixes and put on a 57-run stand with Cooper Connolly (21). From 107/1, PBKS collapsed to 140/7.
Cameos from Azmatullah Omarzai (38 in 17 balls, with two fours and four sixes), Vishnu Vinod (15*), and Xavier Bartlett (18*) took PBKS to a competitive 200/8 in 20 overs. Shardul Thakur (4/39) and Deepak Chahar (2/36) were the pick of the bowlers for MI.
During the run-chase, Ryan Rickelton (48 in 23 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) and Rohit Sharma (25 in 26 balls, with two sixes put on a 61-run stand. But PBKS lost wickets at regular intervals after that, and at 149/4 in the 17th over, the match looked balanced. Tilak (75* in 33 balls, with six fours and six sixes) and Will Jacks (25* in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) put on an explosive 56-run stand, chasing down the target with a ball left.
Omarzai (2/36 in four overs), Yuzi Chahal (1/32 in four overs) and Arshdeep Singh (0/29 in four overs) bowled well for PBKS, but other than that, their foreign quicks Marco Jansen (1/55) and Xavier Bartlett (0/53) continued to leak runs.
MI is at the eighth spot in the points table, with four wins and eight losses, giving them eight points. PBKS stays in the top four with six wins, five losses and a no result, giving them 13 points. If Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday, they would be out of the top four. (ANI)
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