Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowlers looked helpless as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener Abhishek Sharma lit up Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium with his 55-ball 141. In the absence of Lockie Ferguson, none of the bowlers could stop a free-flowing Abhishek who made the target of 246 look small. After the shocking eight-wicket defeat, PBKS spin-bowling coach Sunil Joshi chose to look at the positives intead of negatives. He rued the missed chances but said that the bowlers didn't fail as it was a good wicket to bat on.
“I think the positive to take away from this match is that our batters are definitely in great form. The bowling, however, needs to improve and we need to increase our dot-ball percentage. That's what we missed while bowling today on this wicket. On a good wicket, the only difference could be the dot-ball percentage in the middle overs. So that's the key, and we couldn't latch on to half of the chances," Joshi said.
“I think the bowlers didn't fail, I mean it's a good wicket. People come to see more sixes and boundaries rather than five-wicket hauls. So it was an opportunity for us to do well, but fair enough, we missed our chances,” he added.
Arshdeep, the lone warrior in PBKS bowling lineup
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep was the only bowler who bowled his quota of four overs and conceded at under 10 runs per over. Marco Jansen and Yash Thakur were very expensive. Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell could not make an impact either. Chahal got Travis Head's wicket but conceded 56 runs. Captain Shreyas Iyer chose to give the ball to Shashank Singh instead of Marcus Stoinis in the absence of injured Ferguson.
PBKS batters score big
Earlier, PBKS were exceptional with the bat. The openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh got them off to a flying start in the powerplay overs. Then Iyer led from the front and smashed six sixes in his 36-ball 82. In the slog overs, Marcus Stoinis smashed Mohammed Shami for four sixes in an over and helped PBKS post 245/6.
The loss led to PBKS slipping to the second spot. They have four wins from six games. Their next match is against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home on April 15.