Punjab Kings skipper Sam Curran said there were loads of positives for the team despite them not qualifying for the playoffs. PBKS won their penultimate match of the season against Rajasthan Royals by five wickets at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati on Wednesday.
The likes of Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Shashank Singh, and Ashutosh Sharma did a fine job for the team throughout the season.
Meanwhile, PBKS’ bowlers did a fine job in restricting RR to a below-par score of 144 runs after Sanju Samson decided to bat first. Sam Curran got the early wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal and RR could only manage 38 runs in the Powerplay overs as Sanju Samson and Tom Kohler-Cadmore failed to find any momentum.
Curran, Harshal Patel, and Rahul Chahar bagged two wickets each to keep the opposition below 150. Furthermore, Arshdeep Singh and Nathan Ellis, playing his maiden match of the season, took one wicket apiece.
Curran hailed the collective bowling effort of his team to keep the opposition to a below par score. Furthermore, the PBKS captain scored an unbeaten knock of 63 runs off 41 balls to help his team get over the line in the run-chase of 145.
Sam Curran said in the post-match presentation while talking to the host broadcasters, “We bowled really well as a group. The message was that we had a lot of pride to play for. Ellis was absolutely amazing in his first game of the season. Probably should’ve played him earlier. When I went in, Jonny said it was quite tough. It was holding a little bit. Didn’t need to take too much risk. Knew on a ground like this, we just needed a couple of sixes.”
He added, “Me and Jonny are leaving tomorrow. Obviously nice. Have thoroughly enjoyed the season, have enjoyed captaining. The atmosphere around the group has been really good. Excited about the World Cup. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We had so many close games. Feel like the team is close to something. Who knows what the future holds? Loads of positives. The chase in Kolkata. The way Shashank Singh has come into the team is amazing. Ashutosh as well. Harshal and Arshdeep have bowled well.”
Punjab Kings will play their last league stage match of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Sunday.
