Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan admitted they were 10-15 runs short of a par score after their four-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Monday. After being put into bat, PBKS posted a fighting score of 176 runs on the board.
Shikhar Dhawan top-scored with 45 runs but none of the other batters could go past the 30-run mark. Shashank Singh, for whom PBKS had bid mistakenly in the IPL 2024 auction, added the finishing touches with 8-ball 21.
On the other hand, RCB was under the cosh in the run-chase after they were reduced to 130-6 after 16.2 overs however Dinesh Karthik (28 off 10) and Mahipal Lomror (17 off 8) got their team over the line.
Shikhar Dhawan said in the post-match presentation, “It was a good game, we brought the game back and again we lost it. We scored 10-15 runs less, in the first six overs I played a bit slow. Those 10-15 runs cost us and the dropped catch as well.”
Earlier in the run-chase, Virat Kohli played a crucial knock of 77 runs off just 49 balls with the help of 11 fours and two maximums. Kohli was able to get off the blocks in a jiffy and scored his 51st IPL fifty. However, Kohli had the rub of the green on his side as he was dropped by Jonny Bairstow when he was yet to get off the mark.
Dhawan added, “Virat scored 70-odd runs and we dropped a catch of the class player, we paid the price. If we had taken that catch, the momentum would have come from the second ball. But we lost the momentum over there and then we paid the price for that. It looked good but it wasn’t a very true wicket, it was stopping, bit of double bounce and turned as well. 70% coming good, 30% it was doing a bit.”
Dhawan added he is happy with the runs he scored but he could have scored at a better strike rate. “I am happy with my runs but I thought I could have played a bit more fast in the first six overs, that’s the only thing I felt. We lost wickets as well, we lost two wickets continuously and that put pressure on us.”
Punjab Kings will next take on Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday.
