Punjab Kings captain Mayank Agarwal was delighted after his team bagged two crucial points against Mumbai Indians at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday. PBKS won by 12 runs after restricting MI to 186-9 in the run-chase of 199 runs.
Agarwal reckons whenever the game was in the balance, they were able to win crucial stages to pull it towards themselves. PBKS got off to a great start as Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan added 97 for the opening stand in 9.3 overs. Agarwal was the aggressor in the opening partnership as he scored 52 runs off 32 balls to get back into form.
Dhawan also contributed with 70 runs from 50 balls before he was dismissed by Basil Thampi. Jitesh Sharma continued to impress as the right-hander played a fine cameo of 15-ball 30 to provide the finishing touches. Shahrukh Khan also scored 6-ball 15 to take PBKS to 198 runs.
On the other hand, MI lost two early wickets as Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan once again failed to provide a good start to the team. However, Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma added a quickfire alliance of 84 runs to get their team back in the contest. Brevis got a reprieve after Vaibhav Arora dropped a catch at third man but he was dismissed on the next ball when he played a pull shot straight to deep fine-leg fielder, Arshdeep Singh.
Tilak Varma and Kieron Pollard then were run-out to put MI under marshy waters. SKY once again played an impressive knock of 43 runs off 30 balls but it was not enough to take his team to their maiden win of the season.
Mayank Agarwal said in the post-match presentation, “It was a good night, very happy to contribute to the team’s win. The crucial thing for us was the two points. We can’t just say it was runs on the board, this game had a lot of ups and downs. There were a lot of crucial moments and more often than not, we were nailing and winning those moments. When the game was 50-50, we won those moments and it came towards us. It wasn’t batting alone, it was periods in the game. That’s the brand of cricket we want to play, we want to play aggressive, hard cricket. With that, we got to show good mindset. We were a lot smarter as well. In the last game against Gujarat, we gave wickets to Rashid when it wasn’t required. This time we were a lot more aware, we were a lot more careful and made sure that we don’t try and give wickets to their main bowlers.”
He added, “We’ve spoken about in the team – ‘If it’s your day, you got to take the team through.’ It can get hard, credit to Brevis the way he took on Rahul. Great comeback from Rahul as well after that over. The other three overs he bowled were tight. When Tilak and Brevis were going, we had to change our strategy, get in the main bowlers and try and get a wicket. Luckily it happened through run-outs and also our main bowlers taking wickets. We don’t rely just on Rabada (for wickets). He leads the attack, but we have two other guys to do that. It’s nice, very happy to have three wins. We are playing good cricket overall. If we continue to do that, if we improve 5-10% every game, we’ll go on to do special things.”
PBKS will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy on Sunday.
