More runs must be added, says Punjab Kings coach
Punjab Kings bowling coach Charl Langeveldt is still optimistic about his team’s ability to win despite the fact that they have lost six of their last eight games.
Right now, the side is positioned second from the bottom on the point’s table. The team suffered a three-wicket loss against the Gujarat Titans in their most recent home game at Mullanpur, marking their fourth straight loss there.
It’s disappointing. Fans, employees, and players are all harmed. With the ball, we showed a lot of character. For the first time in three games, we had a strong powerplay at bat, but the opposition’s spinners were too strong for our hitters in the middle innings. We had trouble in that (middle) stage,” Langeveldt said after yesterday’s game.
“We just need the middle order upfront to get more runs,” he said. On that wicket, we were maybe 20 runs short. “We could have another spinner (Chahar) to play, but obviously when you’re batting and you’ve had a collapse like that, it’s better to get the runs on board,” the coach said when questioned about benching Rahul Chahar despite having him on the shortlist as one of the impact players.
The Punjab Kings’ next games are against the Chennai Super Kings on May 1 and the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 26. After that, on May 5 and May 9, respectively, the team will play two home matches against Chennai and Bangalore at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Stadium (HPCA), Dharamsala. After that, the team will play two final games on May 15 against the Rajasthan Royals and May 19 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
We want to become better at scoring runs, that’s what. The batting lineup will be somewhat more confident heading into the last few games as we travel and play on stronger batting surfaces. All of our games are seen as semifinals or finals,” Langeveldt said.
The coach said, “The batters are definitely going to be happy about the next venue (Eden Gardens, Kolkata)” in reference to the team’s next task. The bowlers must also do better when we play on higher scoring fields at various locations. We can only hope that our batters will do well.
