IPL 2020 | Really disappointed towards the game, should have won, rues Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble’s debut stint as the head coach of the KXIP side, teaming up with Karnataka boy KL Rahul as the skipper ultimately ended in a loss for the franchise. Opting to bowl first, the Punjab-based side got off to a great start, reducing Delhi to three down in the powerplay. However, since then, things slowly started moving away from their hands, with the partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant propelling the Capitals’ first innings before Marcus Stoinis added salt to the wound, taking them to 157. 

In the second innings, despite the start from KL Rahul and the gigantic efforts from Mayank Agarwal, the Punjab side crashed to a narrow defeat in the contest, on the back of a super over. Following the game, the franchise’s head coach Kumble rued the chances and showcased his disappointment with the result. However, at the same time, he admitted that it is a good learning curve. 

“Really proud of the way we played today. The game was taken away in the last three overs when we bowled, but having said that once we were five down 155/5 to sort of win the game. Mayank batted brilliantly. Really disappointed towards the end. Maybe we should have won the game, unfortunately, it went to a Super Over and when you go to a Super Over, you at least need 10-12 runs that didn’t happen,” he said on KXIP’s Twitter video. 

Kumble echoed KL Rahul’s words that despite the loss, the team looks good and is willing to correct the small mistakes before taking the big steps during the latter half of the tournament. On top of that, the former leg-spinner also stated that the team will correct its mistakes in the due course. 

“Delhi played well as we left them off the hook a little bit, but having said that for the first game of the tournament, really satisfied with the way things have gone. It was a good start and I am sure we will be able to correct whatever little things we need to do on the field in the next game,” he added.