Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowlers seemed completely out of their depth as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opener Abhishek Sharma took over the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium with his breathtaking knock of 141 off just 55 balls. With Lockie Ferguson missing from the action, none of the PBKS bowlers could stop the relentless onslaught from Abhishek, who made a daunting target of 246 look almost too easy. Despite this shocking 8-wicket loss, PBKS’s spin bowling coach, Sunil Joshi, found a silver lining in the defeat.
Instead of dwelling on the negatives, Joshi emphasized the positives and focused on the opportunities missed. Here’s what he had to say:
“I think the positive to take away from this match is that our batters are definitely in great form. The bowling, however, needs to improve and we need to increase our dot-ball percentage. That’s what we missed while bowling today on this wicket. On a good wicket, the only difference could be the dot-ball percentage in the middle overs. So that’s the key, and we couldn’t latch on to half of the chances,” Joshi said.
Joshi continued to explain his perspective, offering a deeper look into the performance:
“I think the bowlers didn’t fail, I mean it’s a good wicket. People come to see more sixes and boundaries rather than five-wicket hauls. So it was an opportunity for us to do well, but fair enough, we missed our chances,” he added.
While Joshi remained calm in his assessment, there were certain key performances from PBKS’s bowling department that stood out, albeit not in the best light. Arshdeep Singh, the left-arm pacer, was the only bowler who stuck to his task, delivering a solid performance. He bowled his full quota of four overs and kept the runs under 10 per over. In contrast, Marco Jansen and Yash Thakur had a tough outing, leaking runs at a much higher rate. The spinners – Yuzvendra Chahal and Glenn Maxwell – also failed to make much of an impact. Chahal managed to pick up Travis Head’s wicket, but he ended up giving away 56 runs in his spell.
In a surprising move, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer handed the ball to Shashank Singh instead of Marcus Stoinis, who would have been the obvious choice in the absence of the injured Ferguson.
On the batting side, PBKS delivered an impressive show. The opening duo of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh provided a flying start during the powerplay. Iyer led from the front with a stunning 82 off just 36 balls, smashing six sixes. During the slog overs, Marcus Stoinis took charge, hitting Mohammed Shami for four sixes in one over, helping PBKS set a massive target of 245/6.
Despite their strong batting performance, the defeat saw PBKS slipping to second place in the points table, with four wins out of six games. Their next challenge comes against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at home on April 15.
