Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran hailed Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma despite their nine-run loss against Mumbai Indians at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh on Thursday.
While chasing 193, PBKS found themselves in all sorts of trouble at 14-4 with Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee striking twice. Subsequently, Harpreet Singh Bhatia and Jitesh Sharma were dismissed cheaply to leave the PBKS run-chase in tatters 77-6.
However, Shashank Singh continued his rich form, scoring 41 runs off 25 balls before he was bamboozled by a slower one from Jasprit Bumrah. At 111-7 with Singh back in the dug out, it seemed all hope was lost for PBKS but young Ashutosh Sharma was not ready to throw in the towel.
Sharma took MI bowlers to the leg-side boundaries and completed his maiden IPL fifty off just 23 balls. The right-hander scored 61 off 28 balls with the help of two fours and seven sixes in his blistering knock to keep PBKS in the contest.
With 28 needed off the last four overs, the hosts were ahead in the game but Sharma’s wicket tilted the game back towards Mumbai Indians. In the end, PBKS endured another close loss, which is disheartening for the team as well as the fans.
Sam Curran said after the loss, “Another close one, I think this team likes a close one, but unfortunately another loss. Another incredible knock from the young guy (on Ashutosh), but another close loss. It’s very tough, you want to lose close games rather then getting absolutely thumped, but we’ve lost a lot of wickets at the start, the way the younger guys have taken the team so close is heartening (on Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma).”
He added, “They have incredible confidence, you see a guy like Ashutosh having the confidence to play the sweeps and the big hits against pacers, it’s so great to watch them in action. It’s disheartening to lose close games, but there are a lot of positives in this team. We still have the belief in us, we believe we can turn this around, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will hopefully get on a winning run.”
Punjab Kings will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh on Sunday.
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