Punjab Kings batting coach Wasim Jaffer admitted their decision to bowl first against Lucknow Super Giants has backfired on their team, as the bowlers could not bowl according to the plan of the team. On Friday, the Shikhar Dhawan-led side suffered a massive defeat of 56 runs against LSG.
In Mohali, Punjab Kings were boosted by the arrival of their regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who missed out previous three games due to a shoulder injury. Dhawan won the toss and elected to bowl first, which proved to be a failed move as their bowlers were taken to cleaners all around in most parts of the innings.
Former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer accepted that the move proved to be costly for their side and reckoned that their bowlers could bowl better against the attacking LSG batters.
“You can say our plan backfired but then this is the tendency of all the IPL teams that they bowl first after winning the toss. When the opposition scores 257, chasing will always be difficult. We could have bowled better,” Wasim Jaffer said.
Wasim Jaffer said that LSG batters had a terrific intent to score their side and their middle-order batter didn’t step back post powerplay as they continued their attacking mode throughout the innings to make it difficult for Punjab Kings bowlers.
“The way they (LSG batters) started in the powerplay and didn’t stop at all Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stonis, Nicholas Pooran. When somebody plays like this it becomes very difficult. They didn’t lose the momentum after the powerplay. It was an off day for our bowling,”
Jaffer further asserted that their bowlers should have gone with a different plan and bowled to a larger part of the ground and a few slower ones in their bowling and credited LSG batters for their exceptional knock in the middle overs making it clueless for the Punjab bowlers.
If We Could Have Managed To Restrict The Lucknow Batters To 220-230… – Wasim Jaffer On Punjab Kings Chances
Speaking on the positives from the match, Wasim Jaffer lauded young Atharva Taide and Jitesh Sharma for their intent to chase down the second-highest total in the IPL history, as they fell short in the end and feels that they would have a chance if they have restricted Lucknow Super Giants to 220 or 230 runs in their 20 overs.
“Atharva Taide who is just playing his third or fourth match, the way Jitesh Sharma played. If we could have managed to restrict the Lucknow batters to 220-230, the match could be different but this is all thinking in hindsight,” Wasim Jaffer added.
Punjab Kings have suffered their fourth loss in the eighth league game and are currently placed at Number six position in the points table they will look to rectify their mistakes when their take on Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.