Chasing 202 is never easy in T20 cricket but Kings XI Punjab were very much in the game till the last three overs of their match against the Royals Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday night. Needing 36 runs to win off the last 18 balls, KXIP were going strongly, but RCB pacemen Umesh Yadav and Navdeep Saini bowled sensationally to set up a 17-run win for the hosts at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
“Our execution went quite a bit wrong towards the end. Firstly, 3 overs for 60 runs while bowling is not ideal but we were in the chase all along. Teams that play the crunch situations well, the crunch couple of balls end up winning the games in T20. That’s what you back the senior players to do and that’s how it has gone for us throughout the tournament. When we have handled pressure well, we have won,” a disappointed Kings XI skipper Ravichandran Ashwin said after the game.
“Game was still in the balance. Two overs and 30 is still gettable on this ground. We did back ourselves with David (Miller) and (Nicholas) Pooran going really strong, but then it was a matter of one or two balls. The margin was really close but we couldn’t close out the game and that has been the downside of our entire season so far,” he added.
