Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul believes that the “short run” that played a part in their opening Indian Premier League loss to Delhi Capitals massively affected their playoff chances despite a remarkable comeback in the second leg of the tournament.
KXIP finished on 12 points after losing their last game against CSK after winning five games on the trot to raise hopes of a playoff berth.
“It is disappointing. We had a lot of games in our pockets and we couldn’t get over the line and we only have ourselves to blame. That short run game too (against Delhi Capitals on September 20), looks like it has come back to bite us,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Before that particular match went into Super Over, the TV footage showed that square leg umpire Nitin Menon had erred in calling Chris Jordan for a “short run’’ in the third ball of the 19th over, bowled by Kagiso Rabada.
The TV replays showed that Jordan’s bat was inside the crease when he completed the first run, starting from the non-striker’s end.
However to KXIP’s horror, Menon gestured that Jordan had not completed the run and only one run was added to Mayank Agarwal and the Punjab team’s total.
On their loss against CSK, Rahul said that it was all about not batting well.
“It is as simple as that. We didn’t bat really well. Big pressure game, we expected 180-190. We couldn’t soak in the pressure. We didn’t have the results going our way in the first half,” a disappointed Rahul said after the match.
Rahul, who finished the tournament with 670 runs from 14 games said that there were occasions when they were patchy with both the batting and bowling units not clicking at the right time.
“The team still felt like we were playing good cricket. We were patchy. The bowling and batting wasn’t coming together in the first half, proud that we did it in the second half. Lots to be proud of as a team.”
(With inputs from PTI)