Things didn’t go the way of Punjab Kings on Sunday at the 2021 VIVO Indian Premier League as they were on the losing side yet again against Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The Punjab batsmen did well to put on a fighting total of 167 on the night, spearheaded by stand-in captain Mayank Agarwal, but that wasn’t enough to get them the two points as Delhi chased down the target with more than two overs to spare. 

Speaking to the media in the post-match press conference, captain Mayank Agarwal revealed that he felt his team were short of a few runs on the night. “I thought we got a decent score on the board, maybe just 10 runs short,” said Mayank.

“We would've liked two points but we were ten short on that wicket and for the kind of PowerPlay they had, we had to really scramble there. One batsman had to bat through and that was the plan, it was my day and tried to get as many as we could but didn't get as many in the middle overs,” he added. 

“We have to shut this off and turn up for the next game and put our best foot forward, figure out ways how to get those two points.” said Mayank Agarwal.

Opening plans under discussion

With regular captain KL Rahul out for the Delhi game, there was speculation that Punjab Kings might choose either Chris Gayle or debutant Dawid Malan to open the innings alongside Mayank. However, the team management decided to stick with Prabhsimran Singh, who struck a six early on in his innings but unfortunately couldn’t get a big score. 

“The opening combination is something that we will have to speak about, but for the moment this is the strategy we went with today, and I think we got a decent score on the board,” said Mayank, defending the choice to play Prabhsimran as opener. 

“With Delhi’s batting, we needed firepower in those middle overs, so that was the plan,” added Mayank, further justifying the thought behind reserving Gayle and Malan to play lower down the order. 

Nevertheless, Punjab Kings fans could expect a change in that batting order moving forward, if conducive to the team management.