Ravichandran Ashwin, the skipper, Kings XI Punjab, after losing yesterday’s game against Mumbai Indians by six wickets feels that it was actually Jasprit Bumrah who made a difference between the two teams. Bumrah bowled an exceptional economical spell that bound Punjab to a comparatively low total.
Batting first at the Holkar Stadium, the Punjab team was easily restricted to 174 due to magnificent bowling by one of the best T20 bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah had full control of KXIP batsmen, thanks to Hardik Pandya’s last over that went off for 22 runs. However, team Mumbai easily chased the total with Krunal Pandya smashing few of the boundaries out of the park and reviving MI’s chances to be alive in the tournament.
Ravichandran Ashwin was said, “He (Bumrah) bowled really well. You can say he made the difference. He did well in the death overs and didn’t leak a lot of runs in the powerplay when (Chris) Gayle was batting.”
The KXIP skipper also said that the team is highly motivated and they will surely turn the tables against Rajasthan Royals. He said, “We were about 10-15 runs short. The wicket was a bit sticky early on. I thought 180+ would be a good score but we lost wickets in the middle overs. Gayle set it up with his knock and but, we couldn’t finish well. Yes, the middle-order has been a bit shaky but, it’s important to have faith in them.”
Ashwin, who himself bowled an outstanding spell of 0/23, said: “I thought we bowled well for the most part of the innings. You can say we erred in length in the 17th, 18th and the 19th overs. It does happen sometimes.”
“I don’t think we played bad cricket. It (Indore) is a difficult ground to defend. We had a good chance till the 15th over but Rohit (Sharma) was there till the end for MI. There aren’t a lot of games MI loses when Rohit Sharma stays till the end.”
This thumping win from Mumbai will keep them alive till their next encounter. They have done it before but this time it is going to be difficult to qualify for the playoffs. On the other hand, KXIP will try to put away with the loss and focus on the rest of the matches.