It’s Sort Of Become A Bit Of A Pattern For Us – Anil Kumble On PBKS Losing Close Games

Punjab Kings were defeated by Rajasthan Royals in the 32nd match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 by the margin of 2 runs at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Head Coach of the PBKS team Anil Kumble agreed that losing the games narrowly has become a pattern for the team.

Punjab Kings were in a dominant position in the game during the chase and it looked like they will easily clinch the victory after KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal had a century partnership and Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram were on the crease when 4 runs were needed from 6 balls. However, Punjab eventually lost the match by 2 runs and Kartik Tyagi became the hero of the match by defending 4 runs in the final over.

PBKS head coach Anil Kumble in the post-match press conference said that they had an approach to finish the game in 19 overs. However, the game went till the very end and they eventually lost.

“It’s sort of become a bit of a pattern for us, especially as soon as we get to Dubai, it seems. There was a clear message saying we need to finish this game in 19 overs, and that was the approach. Unfortunately, we let it till the end, and in the last couple of balls it becomes a lottery (with) a new batsman going in, it is a bit of lottery,” said Anil Kumble at the post-match press conference.

I thought the bowling effort was really good: Anil Kumble

Meanwhile, the PBKS head coach lavished praise on the bowling unit of the team and said:

“It was a very good wicket, in fact, we really came back in the last four overs, I think we gave just about 20 runs and picked up six wickets. Arshdeep (Singh) bowled brilliantly, (Mohammed) Shami bowled brilliantly, (Harpreet) Brar bowled really well on a tough pitch.

“And remember one side of the ground, the boundaries were short, the other was longer. At one stage, Rajasthan were looking to score almost 200-210, so to really squeeze the last four overs and pick up six wickets, I thought the bowling effort was really good.”

The legendary Indian spinner highlighted that the batting of Punjab Kings was good till the 17th over and after that they messed up.

“I think the batting showed till the 17th over that we were cruising, unfortunately, 18th, 19th (over) sort of pulled us back after that six (Aiden) Markram hit. After that, we just got singles and then lost wickets and took it to the last over, which unfortunately we couldn’t finish,” the former Indian spinner said

Further Anil Kumble added that batsmen needed to play some good strokes when they needed 8 runs off 12 balls. However, they took the game very deep and it became very hard for them to win from that position.

“As batsmen, they certainly know what their scoring shots are, it’s not about just the scoop. It also boils down to that particular batsman. When you have 8 runs in 12 balls, I don’t think we needed a scoop, all it needed was a bit of hitting, and even if someone got out, the next batsman would at least get five or six balls to get those runs. When it goes to the last couple of balls, it becomes really hard,” Anil Kumble concluded.

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