Sam Curran, the stand-in captain of Punjab Kings, expressed disappointment over his team’s poor start with the bat after their loss against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday (April 13). With regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan sidelined due to a niggle, the all-rounder led the Punjab-based outfit but couldn’t guide them to a much-needed win.
Asked to bat first, Punjab Kings had a disastrous start to their innings, reeling at 70 for 5 at one stage. Jitesh Sharma (29) and Liam Livingstone (21) steadied the ship, taking the score past the 100-run mark. A late cameo of 31 runs off 16 balls from Ashutosh Sharma helped them post a respectable total of 147/8.
However, Punjab Kings failed to finish their innings strongly, managing only six runs in the final over. This ultimately haunted them as Rajasthan Royals chased down the target with just one ball remaining. Shimron Hetmyer’s two sixes in the final over sealed the win for Rajasthan Royals.
Reflecting on the game, Sam Curran highlighted his team’s poor start with the bat and their inability to finish the innings well. At the same time, he lauded the lower order’s efforts in taking the team close to 150.
“The wicket was slightly slow, but we didn’t start well with the bat and didn’t finish well in the end. It was a good effort from the lower order, getting to 150 was excellent, the bowling was good, we kept them down, unfortunately, another close loss,” said Sam Curran.
Despite the setback, Sam Curran remains confident of his team’s ability to bounce back in the upcoming game. He acknowledged the challenges of adapting to the new venue after just three games but expressed belief in his team’s adaptation skills.
“We stuck to our plans, bowled and fielded well, but I’m confident we’ll bounce back in the next game,” Curran stated. “Three games is a hard way to fully work out the conditions (at the new venue), but we’ve adapted well, we won the first match and lost two matches by close margins (by 2 runs and 3 wickets), hard to take, but the boys will be lifted by how well we’ve played in the last couple of games.”
Punjab Kings will be in action next on Thursday (April 18) when they take on Mumbai Indians.
