We Are Slowly Coming Together As A Team: KL Rahul Lauds The Youngsters For Taking Their Opportunities And Performing Well

Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul’s unbeaten and level-headed helped them overhaul Mumbai Indians’ score of 131 with nine wickets to spare. Mumbai Indians’ batting line-up continued to struggle on a tricky Chennai wicket and Rohit Sharma’s fifty gave their elite bowlers a modest total to bowl at. KL Rahul, who batted exceptionally well for his 60 to ace 131 on a complicated surface, said that the youngsters have cashed in on the chances whenever they have come up.

Mumbai Indians, who went into the game unchanged and had to bat first after losing the toss, saw Quinton De Kock’s back cheaply in the second over. Ishan Kishan became Ravi Bishnoi’s victim after facing 17 balls for his six runs. Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav stitched a 79-run stand off 56 deliveries, giving the Mumbai Indians’ innings the required momentum. But Yadav’s departure dented their bid to get into a total that could bat Punjab out of the game.

KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal got Punjab Kings up and running by threading a 53-run stand in 7.2 overs. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar struck to dismiss Agarwal, who holed out to Suryakumar at long-on. Mumbai Indians cut the run-rate down significantly after the first wicket; however, Gayle and Rahul magnified the scoring rate at the correct time to give Punjab the upper hand. They kept getting the odd boundary without losing wickets to cruise to a nine-wicket win with more than two overs to go.

Me and coach did have a long chat about batting second: KL Rahul

Despite a comprehensive win, KL Rahul was not keen on going too far ahead, as they are a young team, who are slowly coming together. KL Rahul hailed Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, and finally Ravi Bishnoi for taking their opportunities when presented. The 28-year old revealed having a chat with head coach Anil Kumble about batting second and with dew’s presence, they predicted for the track to ease and become better. Rahul admired Chris Gayle for countering the dry ball that began ripping. As for Ravi Bishnoi, who finished with figures of 4-0-21-2, the Karnataka-born cricketer claimed that Kumble has been working with him to get a few things correct and praised the leggie for holding his composure against a solid batting line-up.

“We don’t wanna get too ahead of ourselves, we’re slowly coming together as a team. I said this after the first game as well, we’re a young team. We add new names every year and we’ve to be patient. Hooda has been playing really well, Shahrukh’s taken his opportunities, and Bishnoi today. Me and coach did have a long chat about batting second, I felt that the wicket was sticky and the first few games we’ve batted and felt that the bowlers were always under pressure. I felt it was important that bowlers get to bowl in those conditions and we heard that there was a lot of dew. So I felt like it can ease up and come on better – that didn’t happen, but we knew what to chase and that helped. The dry ball did play a big part, it just started ripping. When that happens it gets real hard to even get singles. But it was good of Chris, he figured out who to target, that’s the benefit of having someone like him. Ravi’s been working real hard with Anil bhai, there were a few things he had to correct, and he’s worked really hard and he’s held his composure against a solid batting line-up,” Rahul told in the post-match presentation.

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