The Punjab Kings suffered a heartbreaking loss at the hands of the Gujarat Titans, who chased down the former’s 189/9 with a six off the last ball at Mumbai’s Brabourne stadium. Post the match, bowler Arshdeep Singh addressed the media to answer questions about the closely fought game.

On his discussion with Rabada

Singh went up to Kagiso Rabada and exchanged a few words with him after the latter conceded boundaries early in the crucial 19th over. While Singh was asked if he gave Rabada advice, the Punjabi bowler clarified what went on between them.

“Not at all, Rabada is a very experienced bowler. I just went up to him normally, spoke to him about staying calm and composed, and to take his time before executing a delivery,” Singh said. “I didn’t say anything specific. He is very experienced and has played so many more matches than I have, so there was no special message there,” Singh clarified.

On the fateful single in the last over

There has been a lot of debate if the single off the fourth delivery in the 20th over can be called the game-changing moment. A dot there would have meant that the best result GT could force on PBKS would have been a super over.

“If you look back (not just in the previous game), there are a lot of instances where you would want to change things. However, we don’t want to think about those on match days. We do look into the game the next day briefly to discuss the previous day’s game, both what all we did well and the potential areas of improvement,” Singh said.

“I guess, these questions are being raised given the result. Had we won the match in this scenario, we would not be asked these questions,” Singh further explained.

Emotions on the field during the last two deliveries

There must’ve been a roller coaster of emotions, especially in the last two deliveries. Even the fans watching the game through the screens could barely manage to stay seated. Singh lets us into the minds of the players who take the field in such crunch situations, and in particular, this last game.

“The PBKS as a unit has played a lot of exciting games over the last few years. Our emotions are pretty stable now, having played a lot of matches that are down to the last over or even the last delivery. So we do not look at the situation in hand any differently. At any point, we try to stay stable as a team, whether we win or lose, and enjoy our cricket.

There have been a lot of “what-ifs” post this game - what if that single didn't come off the last over, what if someone else had bowled it, etc. However, as captain Mayank Agarwal said in the post match presentation ceremony, “It's just a game of cricket, it could be a bitter one to swallow but it's fine. The talk in the group is that we always back the guys.”

With chins held high and eyes ahead, our Shers move on to the next battle of the Tata Indian Premier League 2022.