KL Rahul picked his bowlers for special praise after a combined effort from them saw Punjab Kings defend a low total against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium in an IPL 2021 match on Saturday. Batting first, on a difficult pitch, PBKS made 125/7 and then restricted SRH to 120/7 for a five-run win.
Mohammed Shami took out David Warner and captain Kane Williamson in his first two overs of the Powerplay and then Ravi Bishnoi took three wickets to leave leave SRH in deep trouble.
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Rahul said the performance of his bowlers gives the team confidence they can produce match-winning performances in any situation. “We are playing some entertaining cricket and have been doing for the last two or three years," Rahul said at the post-match presentation. “We wanted to get another 20-30 more runs but we’ll take the win. It gives us a belief that no matter what the situation is, our bowlers can get the opposition out if we get a decent score."
He continued, “Shami to start of, bowled really well, getting two big batters in Warner and Williamson. Made it easier for our spinners to settle into a nice line and length."
However, Rahul had some advise for his batters. He said they need to take account of the different conditions and not go hammer and tongs thinking every pitch on offer will be full of runs. “Lesson for the batsmen would be to realise that it’s not a 160-170 surface, if we had built a few partnerships, we could have got to 140-150," Rahul said.
He also praised SRH allrounder Jason Holder who took three wickets before belting an unbeaten 47 off 29 to give PBKS a late scare. “He (Holder) played exceedingly well. First with the ball, taking those two wickets in an over and then batted really well, on a track where it was difficult to play the big shots," Rahul said.
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