Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul admitted that his side has struggled with the bat for the past couple of seasons at the Indian Premier League. Rahul’s remarks came after PBKS lost by 6 runs against Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore despite getting off to a strong start in 165-run chase.
Rahul and his opening partner Mayank Agarwal added 91-runs for the opening stand against RCB – but the middle-order once again failed to gather any momentum and could not cross the mark after both the openers were dismissed.
Speaking on Star Sports after the match, Rahul said that his team has not have someone to anchor the innings in the middle-order which has cost them matches.
“I wouldn’t say I haven’t enjoyed wearing it (the Orange Cap) but I would have been happier if we had qualified. It was a score that was par. Maybe 10-15 runs extra. When a guy like Maxwell comes in with that sort of form, it makes it difficult. But with the bat, the last couple of years have been disappointing. If I have to be honest, our batting has let us down,” Rahul said.
On being asked if it has bothered him that he and Mayank have been scored the bulk of runs for PBKS in last two seasons, Rahul said: “I’ll be lying if I say it doesn’t play on my mind that I play a role that the team demands. It’s not something that I enjoy, but when you lead the team, you have to accept the responsibility.
“In T20, the top two or three do score a bulk of the runs. You won’t have people in the middle order scoring 500-600 runs. But we have missed someone in the middle who scores those 30-40 quick runs,” he signed off.
