Follow UsFollowing Lucknow Super Giants’ loss against Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad beating the Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings were well placed to find themselves a place in the playoffs. When they won the toss at Eden Gardens, it was the perfect opportunity for them to stomp authority on the standings.
And, Punjab didn’t get off to the best start possible, losing three wickets in the powerplay. Jitesh Sharma tried his best, with two sixes but his wicket combined with the loss of Shikhar Dhawan’s dismissal put them in a coup. However, a late blitzkrieg from Shahrukh Khan in Kolkata, an eight-ball 21 took them to 179, which looked like a par total.
But Kolkata Knight Riders never let their foot off the peddle, and KKR’s skipper Nitish Rana put on a show in the middle-overs to take the game away from the visitors. In the post-match presentation, Dhawan insisted that it was that phase, where Punjab lacked an off-spinner against Nitish Rana which cost them the match.
“I feel that we don't have a good offspinner. When left-handers come, from one end we have a legspinner and at the other end we have a left-arm spinner. So that's where I feel we are leaking a bit of runs. This wicket was offering turn as well so I feel that's where we took the hit,” Dhawan said in the post-match presentation.
On the loss, Dhawan reckoned that track in Kolkata wasn’t easy to bat on, and also patted Arshdeep on the back for his efforts with the ball, where the left-arm pacer nearly defended six runs in the last over.
"Not feeling that great. We lost the game and it was not an easy track to bat on and I feel that we put on a good total. At the end, they played well. It was great, phenomenal effort from Arshdeep and the way he has bounced back from the last game, all credit goes to him. It was quite interesting that he took the game to the last ball so it was really good,” he added.