Mullanpur: Punjab Kings’ bowling coach Charl Langeveldt has urged his middle-order batters to step up and “get more runs on the board” following their three-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans in the IPL here.
Punjab Kings made brisk start to reach 45 for no loss in five overs but their innings went downhill thereafter as they lost 7 for 47 runs to be all out for 142. GT overhauled the target in 19.1 overs.
It was their sixth loss in eight games. “Disappointing. Players are hurt as well as the staff and the fans. We showed a lot of character with the ball. We had a good powerplay with the bat for the first time in three games but in the middle period, their spinners were too quality for our batters and we struggled. “We just need middle order upfront to get more runs. We were probably 20 runs short on that wicket,” Langeveldt said at the post-match press conference.
While Gujarat Titans used their spinners well with the trio of Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad exposing the opposition with their guile, PBKS picked Harpreet Singh Bhatia as their Impact Player due to the batting collapse even as Rahul Chahar stayed on the bench. “It was the idea, we could have another spinner [Rahul] Chahar to play in but obviously when you’re batting and you’ve had a collapse like that, it’s better to get the runs on board,” Langeveldt said.
“That’s something we want to improve, get more runs on the board. We are going to travel now and we are going to play on better batting wickets and that would give the batters a bit more confidence going into the last few games.
We take every game like a semi-final, final but yeah, it’s one of those things.