Harshal Patel still believes PBKS can qualify for playoffs

Despite the 28-run loss at the hands of five-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Punjab Kings’ all-rounder Harshal Patel believes that they are still in the race for a spot in the playoffs. 

PBKS only have eight points after 11 games, currently positioned in eighth place. After putting CSK into bat, the home side did well to reduce their opposition to just 167/9, a score that looked well below par. One of the architects behind the impressive display was Harshal himself, with figures of 3/24.

"We just need to play good cricket. In terms of the playoff race, in 13 years of playing IPL, I have never seen a team out of the playoffs race or qualified before 13-14 games are done,” Harshal said in the post-match press conference. 

“We are still in the race and as a team, we know when we play high-quality cricket and everyone knows their job well, we know we can beat any team on any ground," he added. 

Chasing 168, PBKS showed intent early on, with Prabhsimran Singh taking off batting alongside Shashank Singh in the powerplay. It was that phase which kept PBKS in the contest. But as it turned out, the hosts never managed to stitch up valuable partnerships, falling short by 28 runs. 

"I think with that opening spell, we were still in the game when Prabhsimran Singh and Shashank Singh were batting. Even though we lost two early wickets, we recovered with Prabhsimran and Shashank in the middle during the powerplay, the 33-year-old added.

“I think we were quite settled at that point. If we had made better choices on which bowlers to target, we could have a different conclusion to the game," he said. 

During the toss, the talk of the pitch was that it would be a ‘high-scoring’ contest but as it turned out, it was a slightly tricky surface. Even Harshal insisted that they thought it was going to be a high-scoring venue. 

"I think coming into this game, we thought that this would be a high-scoring venue because of the size of the boundary. Usually, this pitch has a lot of pace and bounce. But it was not like that, especially today,” Harshal added. 

“The next game we play will be a night game. So, it might be a little different and we might see 30-40 more runs on the surface. The lessons we have learned is that if we bowl hard length, close to the stumps, and keep stumps in play at all times, there is enough reward for bowlers and shot-making is difficult from that length," he said.

It didn’t end there, even PBKS’ skipper Sam Curran praised the bowling unit, and reckoned that it was a tough batting pitch, which made the job tough during the run chase. 

"Thought we bowled really well. Rahul Chahar and Harshal were amazing, I was pretty happy at the halfway point but unfortunately, it was not meant to be. The wicket was probably slower than we thought, we expected a little more pace and bounce, it was pretty similar throughout the game," Curran said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Punjab will next face off against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the same venue under the lights, with a hope to fight for that playoff spot on May 9 (Thursday).

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