Punjab Kings skipper Mayank Agarwal attributed a close win against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday to “aggressive and hard cricket” played by the team. Punjab won by 12 runs in Pune after successfully defending the total of 198.
Agarwal, who was also declared the Player of the Match, said in the post-match, “It was not batting alone, it was periods in the game. That is the brand of cricket we want to play, we want to play aggressive, hard cricket ceremony.”
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Big hits were frequent when Punjab batters on the field, with the opening pair — Shikhar Dhawan and Agarwal — giving a 97-run partnership and a headstart to the team. Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma’s 30 runs pushed Punjab over the edge of victory.
The Punjab captain also spoke about the lessons the team drew from their previous game, which ended in a loss against the Gujarat Titans.
“In the last game against Gujarat, we gave wickets to Rashid (Khan) when it was not required. This time we were a lot more aware, we were a lot more careful and made sure that we do not try and give wickets to their main bowlers. We have spoken about in the team – ‘If it is your day, you got to take the team through”, Mayank Agarwal said.
Rohit Sharma, the losing skipper, admitted that the team was not playing “good cricket”, adding that there were too many avoidable errors made on the field.
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“We are not playing good cricket, we need to understand some situations and execute according to them. They got off to a flier, but our bowlers were under pressure, but the pitch was good to bat on and I thought 198 was chaseable”, Rohit Sharma said.
The team “came pretty close to closing the game, but a couple of run-outs did not help our cause.”