KL Rahul was dejected after Punjab Kings lost their opening encounter after being in a great position in the majority part of the game. Rajasthan Royals snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as young Kartik Tyagi defended 4 runs in the final over.
Rajasthan Royals put up a good total on the scoreboard with the help of useful contributions from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mahipal Lomror. However, at one stage they were cruising towards a 200 plus total. But Shami and Arshdeep pulled it back for their team as Arshdeep grabbed his maiden IPL fifer.
KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal stitched another 100-run partnership. Rajasthan bowlers were inconsistent with their line and Lengths. Rajasthan were dismal in the field as well as they dropped KL Rahul thrice. A fifty run stand between Pooran and Makram further strengthened Punjab’s position in the game.
With 8 needed in the final two overs, Punjab would have definitely thought that they had two points in the bag. But Mustafizur’s four run over in the 19th over and Kartik Tyagi’s exceptional final over denied PBKS an easy win. Clearly, the better team didn’t win at the end.
We haven’t learnt from previous mistakes: KL Rahul
Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul was dejected after the disappointing loss. Punjab used to lose matches from similar positions last year as well. Rahul mentioned that this is a tough pill to swallow and they haven’t learned anything from their past mistakes.
“It’s a tough one to swallow. We have been a team that has experienced games like these before. We need to see how we can handle pressure better. Trying to finish in the 18th over sometimes you go too hard and lose your way and let the opponents in,” Rahul said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We haven’t learnt from previous mistakes. We will now try to come back stronger and win the next five games. We pulled things back quite nicely with the ball, kept taking wickets, which is very crucial in this format. Getting runs for me, Mayank and even Aiden in his first IPL game was important,” Rahul added.
Punjab have now slipped to the 7th position and have five games left. Now, PBKS cannot afford to lose another game as their chances of qualifying look bleak.
