IPL 2019 | Want to win consecutive matches like RCB, says Ravichandran Ashwin

In Wednesday’s encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab had put their opponents to bat first and didn't end up with the desired result as RCB went on to post 202 runs, courtesy of AB de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis’ partnership. KXIP lost seven wickets while chasing before eventually losing the game by 17 runs. 

The side has now lost their fourth game in five matches, and time is running out. There has been a tight contest for the playoff berth with all the teams still in contention. The Ravichandran Ashwin-led side is currently placed at the fifth position and would need to secure wins in all the upcoming three games.

Their next encounter would be against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 29 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, followed by the encounters against Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings at home on May 3 and May 5. And the skipper cited the example of RCB hoping that his side emulated the same.

“It's all about getting one win together and we can get on a roll like RCB won three in a row now, so it's all about getting one win and then we go back home and then we probably try to win a couple on the trot,” said Ashwin, at the post-match presentation ceremony, reported Cricbuzz.

RCB had scored 35 runs in the first three overs before Mohammed Shami got Virat Kohli in the very next over. The Bengaluru-based franchise also lost a flurry of wickets after the end of the powerplay overs with KXIP having the upper hand. RCB were reeling at 81/4 in nine overs before some average fast bowling eased the task for AB de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis, who took their side to a total in excess of 200.

While chasing, despite the KXIP batsmen getting fine starts, they failed to convert them into big innings. David Miller huffed and puffed to score 24 runs, taking 25 balls for it, which ensured that Punjab had lost all momentum. Eventually, all the pressure came on Nicholas Pooran and despite a quickfire knock of 46, he failed to take the team through. Ashwin rued the forgone chances despite having an upper hand a number of times in the game.

“There can be so many places where I thought we lost the game, but honestly in a T20 game it's all about winning those pressure moments which we have not been able to win in the last few games. If we had actually held onto those crunch moments, we might have had a couple of more points or probably four points but that's that, we weren't able to close it out and we got some experience in the middle order couldn't really close it out in the crucial moments today,” the 32-year-old explained.

KXIP have been notorious for frequent changes in the playing XI after every game, and this game was no different as they went ahead with two changes. However, the players have been rotated after each game, and the skipper conveyed that it was important to back players.   

“It's very important to keep trust in the players. We held onto giving players enough opportunities to try and come out on trumps. It's important to back the players,” the India player asserted.

KXIP came in the tournament with little of presence of big names. Ashwin himself has been a Test regular and was not a very popular choice for the shortest format. Barring Andrew Tye, the side has lacked specialist T20 bowlers and although the opening combination of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle has been working, the team has lacked firepower in the middle order. However, they have still managed to punch way above their weight despite the skipper feeling like there was still some scope for improvement. 

“In all the eleven games we played to be brutally honest, we haven't been outplayed by any opposition which is a great positive for us. The one area we could really work on is the powerplay and the back-end finishing,” he signed off.