Punjab Kings head coach Anil Kumble was absolutely gutted at the last-ball finish which resulted in 2 runs loss. He said that it has become a pattern that needs to be sorted out. He also credited Kartik Tyagi for his nerve-wracking over where he defended just 3 runs off the last over.
“I don’t think, yeah, it’s become a bit of pattern for us especially as soon as we get to Dubai. It seems and approach was there was a clear message saying we need to finish this game in 19 overs. And that was approach. Unfortunately, we let it till the end and here in the last couple of balls, it becomes a lottery,” Anil Kumble said.
The new batsman going in but credit to how [Kartik] Tyagi bowled the last over. It was pretty obvious that he is going to bowl wide outside the off-stump but somehow our batters didn’t take the right options. Yes, it’s become a pattern that is something we need to discuss and sort out. There are five more games but again. We don’t want to get bogged down by this defeat. It certainly a difficult bit to swallow,” he added.
“I think the batting obviously sure till the 17th over that were cruising. Unfortunately, 18th, 19th over pulled us back after that six that [Aiden] Markram hit. After that, we sort of just got singles and then lost wickets and took it to the last over which unfortunately we couldn’t finish,” Kumble further stated.
Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul innings of 67 and 49 respectively for the Punjab Kings went in vain as their middle order failed them miserably after such a good start. Kartik Tyagi was the man of the hour as the pacer conceded just two runs in the last over and picked two wickets to give his team a victory for the ages.
Highest opening partnerships in run chases coming in defeats (IPL)
121 G Gambhir – R Uthappa v RR Ahmedabad 2014 (Lost by 10 runs)
120 KL Rahul – M Agarwal v RR Dubai 2021 (Lost by 2 runs)
115 KL Rahul – M Agarwal v KKR Abu Dhabi 2020 (Lost by 2 runs)
Closest margin of defeat for PBKS (by runs)
1 vs RCB Mohali 2016
2 vs KKR Abu Dhabi 2020
2 vs RR Dubai 2021 *
