NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings' all-rounder
Sam Curran
, who led the team in the absence of injured skipper Shikhar Dhawan, blamed the team's batters for another 'close loss' in the IPL, expressing disappointment with their inability to finish games.
Shimron Hetmyer
kept his clam and scored an unbeaten 27 off 10 balls as Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings by three wickets in a low-scoring thriller to maintain their pole position in the points table.
After restricting Punjab to 147/8 in 20 overs, Royals were in trouble when Hetmyer came in after
Riyan Parag
’s fall and saw Dhruv Jurel being dismissed as well. Under mounting pressure, Hetmyer, who barely got batting time in the season, smashed a four and three sixes, including the winning shot, to get Royals over the line with a ball to spare.
IPL: POINTS TABLE | ORANGE CAP | PURPLE CAP
Despite competitive performances, Punjab have struggled to convert opportunities into wins, highlighting the need for improved execution in crucial moments.
"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 (close) to 150 was excellent, the bowling was good, we kept them down, unfortunately another close loss," Curran said at the post-match interaction.
"We stuck to our plans, bowled and fielded well, but I'm confident we'll bounce back in the next game. 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," Curran added.
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