Punjab coach criticised his team’s fielding and said dropped catch of McCullum proved costly
Kings XI fielder Shaun Marsh reacts after a misfield against CSK on Saturday.
Chennai: After a humiliating 97-run defeat at the hands of Chennai Super Kings, Kings XI Punjab coach Sanjay Bangar criticised his team’s fielding and said the dropped catch of Brendon McCullum, when he was on 21, proved costly. The Kiwi opener’s 44-ball 66 had powered Super Kings to a massive 192. “When you play a team like Chennai, you want to make life easier for your bowlers. When you drop the likes of McCullum and Raina, I think you are asking for trouble. But from there on I felt the ball did turn a lot more in the second innings. It made batting a bit difficult for us,” Bangar said.
“We would have probably restricted them under 170. And, that would have been lesser pressure when we are chasing. As I said the ball just started to jump, stop and turn quite a bit in the second half of the game,” he added. The crushing defeat meant Kings XI Punjab were pushed to the bottom of the table and they will have to stage a massive recovery to stay in contention for the play-offs. Bangar was quite confident of the team’s chances in the upcoming matches.
“It is going to be a very close finish as you see at the point table that apart from the top two, all the other six teams still have a chance to make it to the play-off stage. We are no different. We are very confident and expect ourselves to be part of the top four,” he said. Meanwhile, CSK coach Stephen Fleming said that they will keep their strategy simple and not tinker around too much.
“We are not going to think that which player is going to come out and strike the ball. We could be three for nothing in the next game and they have a match-winning partnership but we are not going to think of those things. We just need to cover every base. We are not going to over complicate,” he said.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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