Follow UsPunjab Kings (PBKS) pulled off a mircale on April 15 (Wednesday) when they defended 111 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) thereby defending the lowest evert total in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history.
KKR were cruising at one stage, with Ajinkya Rahane and Anhkrish Raghuvanshi putting on 55 for the second wicket. At 66/2 in the eighth over, it seemed as though KKR would win easily. Moreover, had they won in 14.1 overs, they would have also gone top of the points table. However, PBKS had other plans.
KKR skipper Rahane believes that it was a collective failure from his batters as they lost their last eight wickets for just 33 runs to get bowled out for 95. "The wicket was good. It was not an unplayable wicket or that something was wrong," said Rahane at the post-match press conference.
"The wicket was very good. The ball was coming a little late. But the bowlers did half of the work. They [PBKS] were all out at 111. It was comparatively easy to chase at 112 on this wicket. We also got a good start. We got 50 in the Powerplay and at 70, I think we had 3 wickets. But again, it's a collective failure of the batting unit."
However, Rahane insists that his team were just thinking of the two points not the net run-rate, despite a few batters playing aggressive shots to get out despite there being no need.
"Definitely, we were thinking about two points. What comes first is two points and then the net run rate. Till I was batting, it was sure that two points were important," Rahane said.
It's not about hitting sixes or getting that net run rate up. It was not a flat wicket. It had something for the bowlers. We had to grind it out. Sometimes, you will have to play a maiden over in T20, but that's okay. Or play a strike rate of 70 or 80. That's fine. But I think just grind it out. It's all about rotating the strike as a batting unit. And T20, personally, I believe it's not only about hitting sixes.
"Though we are seeing at this moment, most of the players are going for big shots."They want to look good on the field while batting. It's not about that. It's all about reading the situation well, having that game awareness as a batter, as an individual. And then take the game forward. That's what I thought we lacked today."
The key wicket was Rahane, which triggered a collapse despite the asking rate being well under run-a-ball. "Many times, it's not only about hitting sixes or playing big shots. Strike rotation is also very important. And I am sure that didn't happen with our batting unit. It's not like Punjab bowled extremely well," Rahane said.
"I think we played bad cricket as a batting unit. I take this responsibility as a captain, as we couldn't chase this down. But individually, I am sure all the players, especially the batters, will think about their own game and improve in the upcoming matches.
"Half of the tournament is over. Seven matches have been played. And half is still left. It's always about coming back with good intent but still look to learn and improve as a batter and take it on in the next game."
Rahane could have saved himself if he had reviewed the leg-before dismissal against him. The replays suggested that the batter was struck well outie off stump, but Rahane says Raghuvanshi at the other end was not entirely sure, and as a result, he did not want to waste a review on himself.
"As a batter, I thought that I will save the review for later. Because it shouldn't happen that I take the review and then only one review is left," he said.
"And the communication between the two batsmen was also not that clear. If someone comes and tells you clearly that the impact can be outside or missing, so as a batter, you take the review. But the communication between the batsmen was not that clear. I didn't take the review because of that.
"But again, no complaints. Apart from that, we did bad batting as a batting unit. And the result of that is why we lost the game today."
The spinners had a terrific outing for both sides. It was Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy who did the damage for KKR early on, and during the chase, Yuzvendra Chahal led the way with 4/28 with Glenn Maxwell too proving to be effective. Seeing this, would KKR have benefitted from having a third spinner in Moeen Ali instead of bringing in Anrich Nortje? Rahane certainly thinks so.
"If you look at it, it's our fast bowlers who took the wickets. They kept the pressure on them. If Moeen Ali played on this wicket, maybe he could have taken wickets, but we as a management felt that three pacers and two spinners was the way to go on this pitch," the 36-year-old said.
The defending champion will look to get back to winning ways when they take on Gujarat Titans (GT) in Kolkata on April 21 (Monday).