Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan expressed his belief that their team fell short by 15 to 20 runs, and
Virat Kohli
's dropped catch played a part in their four-wicket loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday.
Upon batting first, PBKS faced an early setback with the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, which hampered their ability to score runs effectively.
Runs trickled in slowly from Dhawan's bat, while Prabhsimran took time to find his footing on the pitch, resulting in PBKS accumulating just 40/1.
After the game, Dhawan opened up about their struggle in the powerplay and said, "It was a good game, we brought the game back and again we lost it. We scored 10-15 runs less, in the first six overs I played a bit slow. Those 10-15 runs cost us and the dropped catch as well. I am happy with my runs but I thought I could have played a bit more fast in the first six overs, that's the only thing I felt. We lost wickets as well, we lost two wickets continuously and that put pressure on us."
During the second innings, on the second ball of the first over, Jonny Bairstow missed a catch opportunity off Virat Kohli's bat. Kohli, the seasoned batsman, capitalized on this chance and went on to score 77 runs in just 49 deliveries, including eleven boundaries and two sixes.
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"Virat scored 70-odd runs and we dropped a catch of the class player, we paid the price. If we had taken that catch, the momentum would have come from the second ball. But we lost the momentum over there and then we paid the price for that," he added.
Despite the established pace duo of Harshal Patel and Arshdeep Singh conceding a combined total of 85 runs, and lead spinner Rahul Chahar yielding 16 runs in a single over, Harpreet Brar emerged as a pivotal figure for PBKS.
Throughout his spell, he effectively controlled the run rate, conceding just 13 runs and taking two crucial wickets.
"He's bowling really well, especially bowling against left-handers, tremendous the way he soaked in the pressure and got us the breakthroughs. It's a very big thing in Punjab, the Kabaddi thing, the people really connect with that thigh-five, happy to see him do it," Dhawan said while praising Harpreet.
In the match, while pursuing a target of 177, Virat Kohli initiated the chase strongly, and Dinesh Karthik, along with impact substitute Mahipal Lomror, added the final touches to secure a four-wicket victory for RCB.
(With ANI inputs)
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