"We were not good enough with bat," admits Sam Curran after PBKS suffer defeat against RCB
Apr 20, 2023
Mohali (Punjab) [India], April 20 : Following his team's 24-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Punjab Kings stand-in skipper Sam Curran said that his team was "not good enough" with the bat as they lost their four wickets under powerplay.
The 137-run opening stand between Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis followed by Mohammed Siraj's superb bowling powered Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a 24-run win against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium on Thursday.
RCB got off to a fiery start as their bowlers dismantled PBKS' top order, bagging four wickets in the powerplay. Mohammed Siraj got the early breakthrough as he dismissed Atharva Taide, while Wanindu Hasaranga cleaned up Matt Short in the third over. In the 4th over of the game, Siraj then dismissed Liam Livingstone for 2.
At the end of the powerplay, Punjab lost their top order with a total of 49/4.
"I thought we bowled well as a group. Credit to Faf and Virat for the way they played, but I think we didn't let them get away, but we were not good enough with the bat. They bowled well, but we lost far too many wickets, and a couple of run-outs as well. The rain was a factor as well. The wicket was good today, we'll probably look back at a couple of dismissals and regret it, but we'll come back on Saturday. We are playing in Mumbai on Saturday, it's a good wicket out there and we're excited to play over there," Sam Curran said at the post-match presentation.
Coming to the match, after losing 4 wickets in under powerplay, Punjab stand-in captain Sam Curran and Prabhsimran Singh then held the fort from the front for their team as they kept piling singles and boundaries at regular intervals. Prabhsimran single-handily slammed Hasaranga for 14 runs in the 9th over of the game, with the help of two mighty sixes.
After scoring 10 runs Curran was run out by Hasaranga in the 10th over of the game. In the 12th over of the game, Wayne Parnell entered the wicket-taking party as he cleared up well-set batter Prabhsimran for 46. The right-handed batter Shahrukh Khan came out to bat and slammed a six off Parnell's delivery.
However, Shahrukh's stay at the crease was cut short as Hasaranga's stunning googly dismissed him after scoring 7. In the 15th over, Jitesh Sharma opened his hands and slammed Hasaranga for 11 runs, slamming stunning maximum straight down the ground.
In the 16th over of the game, Jitesh smoked Vijaykumar Vyshak for 13 runs with the help of one four and one 83-metre maximum that he slammed back over the bowler's head.
RCB had a great chance to dismiss dangerous batter Jitesh, however, they miss a chance as Kohli at long-on dropped the catch. It did not take long for RCB bowlers to produce another chance as Siraj removed Harpreet Brar for 13 runs in the 18th over. Siraj then in the same over produced a stunning delivery to dismiss new batter Nathan Ellis for 1.
In the penultimate over, Harshal Patel dismissed Jitesh Sharma and bundled out PBKS for 150 to register a 24-run win.