Punjab Kings left-arm orthodox spinner Harpreet Brar said he just tried to bowl in the right areas against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
Brar returned with impressive figures of 3-26 in his quota of four overs to help PBKS restrict Orange Army at 157 after Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the toss and decided to bat first.
Brar accounted for Abhishek Sharma, Rahul Tripathi, and Aiden Markram. All of these three batters had got off to starts and thus they all were important wickets for PBKS. The Punjab spinner said he knew there will be help for the spinners on the track and he wanted to make the most of the conditions.
Brar dismissed Aiden Markram with a peach of delivery as he got turn and the South African was stumped by Jitesh Sharma.
Harpreet Brar was delighted with his individual performance and said he wants to improve on a few areas in his bowling.
Brar was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine show and he said in the post-match presentation, “When we came here, we thought it was a good pitch for the spinners. I have conceded runs and so have the other spinners in the tournament, so I wanted to finish on a good note today. I just tried to bowl in the right areas and I wanted to keep calm under pressure. I tried to work on my skills as much as possible. Felt good after getting his (Markram’s) wicket. I got some turn and bounce on that ball, pleased that he got stumped. I am happy for Arshdeep, now that he will play for India. That is what every player dreams of, playing for their country one day. I need to improve on few areas before the next season. I have been away from home since 3-4 months, so I want to spend some time with my family.”
On the other hand, Liam Livingstone continued his dream form as he scored a quickfire knock of 49 runs off just 22 balls. Livingstone was once again able to hit the ground running and scored his runs at a brisk pace.
The England all-rounder said after the game, “It was nice. I felt like I have been hitting the ball well all tournament, but got out in stupid ways at times too early, but it’s the way I have played, I have tried to play and it’s the way we have tried to play. The way we played today was perfect, we got the balance right between attacking and being smart. It has been a long old two-and-a-half months, nice to get out of here to be honest. I’m a big believer in matchups, I knew today my two matchups were Umran and Washi, I tried to wait for them, but they did not come back because they obviously knew that I was their matchup. I tried to play the two left-armers with a bit more respect and try and wait for the right-armers where I feel a little bit more comfortable. I let myself a bit down when I tried to hit their left-arm spinner over extra-cover; don’t think I have ever done that in my life. It’s all about learning and I will try to keep better at things like that and hopefully take my game to the next level.”
PBKS could not qualify for the playoff stages and they will look to bounce back stronger in the next season.
