Kings XI Punjab coach Virender Sehwag lashed out at his team’s “irresponsible” batsmen, especially the foreign ones, after Rising Pune Supergiant bowled them out for an embarrassing 73 on Sunday. RPS won the match by nine wickets and sealed a spot in the Indian Premier League playoffs at the expense of KXIP.
“[I am] very disappointed,” Sehwag said in the post-match press conference. “I can say that none of the foreign players took the responsibility to play at least 12-15 overs. At least one out of the top four should bat 12-15 overs, but none of the batsmen took the responsibility.”
Sehwag said that KXIP’s batsmen were at fault for not playing to the situation on a slow Pune pitch. After being asked to bat first, the Punjab batsmen were too aggressive in their approach on a slow wicket and paid for it, as the team was bowled out for their lowest total in IPL history.
“If our batsmen were more consistent, maybe we would be in the playoffs,” Sehwag said. “But they will only play according to how their thinking is. Perhaps they think T20 is for entertainment or only for hitting fours and sixes, but if they had assessed the situation and played, it wasn’t a 73-all-out wicket. If we had made at least 120-130, we would have been in the game. Our batsmen were very irresponsible.”
Sehwag also revealed that some of the foreign players complained about the nature of the wicket, but said that they had no right to do so. “I think they were complaining that the wicket was on the slower side, but you’ve played international cricket so much, you should get used to playing on all kinds of wickets – difficult or good wickets,” Sehwag said.
“There are very rare occasions when you get a good wicket to bat on. Whatever wicket you get, you have to play at least 20 overs, but [Glenn] Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, [Martin] Guptill and [Eoin] Morgan, [none of them played]. Guptill and Morgan were the senior most experienced players, but none of them batted at least 12-15 overs. So, [I am] very disappointed.”
Sehwag admitted KXIP missed South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who scored two centuries this season but had to leave the squad earlier this week to join his national team. “We missed Hashim Amla for sure,” Sehwag said. “There is no player as consistent as him. He is an experienced player. He has 25-odd Test hundreds and as many in ODIs. He knows how to score irrespective of the format. He takes risks only after 10-12 overs [of settling in]. The rest of our players, whether Indian or foreign, should learn a lot from Hashim Amla... But when your batsman is in form and he has to leave, someone else has to step up and bat with responsibility. That did not happen.”
Sehwag was particularly critical of Punjab captain Maxwell, who scored 310 runs in 14 matches at an average of 31. “We knew that if Maxwell clicks, he can win you the match, but he did not click in eight or nine matches for us,” Sehwag said. “That was a big disappointment. He is playing Tests, ODIs and T20Is for Australia and he didn’t take the responsibility as captain. He did not perform for Kings XI Punjab.”