IPL 2019 | We lost too many wickets in the middle overs despite Chris Gayle’s brilliance, says R Ashwin
Chris Gayle set the tempo up for the KXIP with a maverick knock, but the failure of his imminent peers cost the side massively against DC, feels skipper Ravichandran Ashwin. KXIP eventually lost the game by five wickets in the final over as KXIP didn’t have enough runs on the board to defend.
Kings XI Punjab looked good for a total of 180 above at one stage but a batting collapse didn’t help them fruitful results against Delhi Capitals on Saturday in Delhi. Eventually, KXIP lost the game by five wickets in the ultimate over. Skipper Ravichandran Ashwin played a handy knock with the bat and feels his side needs to gain momentum and come back to winnings ways in the rest of the tournament.
“This tournament is all about stringing wins together and we need to catch the momentum now,” said Ashwin, reported IANS.
Batting first, Gayle and KL Rahul got a decent start but the latter didn’t last long. Gayle played a scintillating innings of 69 runs off 37 deliveries to set up a platform for a big score. However, a batting collapse in the middle meant KXIP had to settle with a below-par total of 163 in the first innings. DC, who choked in the run-chase against the same opponent, chased down the target with Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan being the highest run-scorers.
“It was quite hard to grip the ball for the spinners. We lost too many wickets in the middle despite Gayle playing a brilliant knock,” Ashwin said.
Ashwin also spoke about how Mujeeb ur Rehman’s absence is hurting the side and his importance in the line-up.
“Someone like Mujeeb is a very important player for us. It happened last year as well, he got a soft tissue injury. It was quite disappointing from that angle,” the skipper said.
“But having said we have enough talent to back him up but unfortunately we didn’t have enough runs on the board today. We were giving away one or two soft boundaries and we need to be tight there. If we had 12-13 in the last over, we would have fancied ourselves.”
Kings XI are well in contention for the race to make it to the play-offs and are currently placed at the fourth spot on the points table.