Mullanpur, Apr 11 (PTI) Coming off a heartbreaking loss in last year’s final, Punjab Kings look hungry for their first IPL title this season, though captain Shreyas Iyer acknowledged that “it will take a lot of effort to envision that”.
Shreyas led from the front with an unbeaten 69 off 33 balls to guide PBKS to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad here on Saturday, making small work of a 220-run target after openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh set it up with a rollicking stand of 99.
“They’re delivering on the field. I keep reiterating every now and then, you have to be in the present. Ricky (Ponting) also takes a lot of importance in this aspect. Even last year, we came so close to winning the trophy. This year, we want to lift it. It will take a lot of effort to envision that,” Shreyas said at the presentation ceremony.
Player of the Match Shreyas lauded the effort of his openers who laid a strong foundation with their explosive batting in the powerplay.
“Firstly, we’ve got a phenomenal start. When you’re chasing 220, you need that start. Pleasing to the eye, proper cricketing shots. Steadied the rhythm at the start. Not easy, but maintaining that momentum – I needed to give myself time. Once I gauged the pace of the pitch…” Having opted to field after winning the toss, PBKS bowlers were taken to the cleaners by Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, with the duo adding 120 runs in just 8.1 overs.
However, Shashank Singh brought them back into the contest by removing both Head and Abhishek in the same over.
Asked what was the thinking after SRH’s start, Shreyas said, “All of us came together, and Shashank approached me, give me an over. Ricky came and asked me, what’s your thought? I said I’ll go with Shashank – I need someone to take the pace off.
“He lived up to his expectations, he lived up to what he said, kudos to him… At the end of the day, we all know we’ve got the skills. We need a strong mindset when we go for such chases.” Shreyas also said Priyansh and Prabhsimran have full freedom to express themselves at the top.
“Openers have been flowing throughout, they don’t need to curb their instincts. Others, who set their platforms from ball one, it’s easy for us to rotate strike and go according to run rate. Overall, we’ve been magnificent with our work ethic.
“All players worked their… bodies off.” Wearing a disappointed look, SRH captain Ishan Kishan acknowledged that they could have got more on the board after the start provided by Abhishek and Head and also admitted that his team was not good with execution.
“We could have ended with a total of 250, the way we started… At the same time, they batted well in the beginning. At the same time, we were not so good with the execution – in T20 cricket, the most important thing is the execution of your good balls,” Kishan said.
“190 is a par score here, we could have had 240 here. But 220 was a great total. We had six or seven bowlers. It showed in their batting that it was easier scoring runs for them. I think in today’s age, you don’t have to plan much – you just do ahead of the game. You know which batter hits where.
“When you don’t execute balls, you have nothing – you just end up giving 10-20 runs.” PTI AH AH ATK
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