Punjab Kings easily achieved a 5-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a rain-shortened 14-over match, successfully chasing down a revised target of 96 runs with 11 balls to spare.
New Delhi: Shreyas Iyer, captain of the Punjab Kings, expressed satisfaction following his team’s decisive win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a shortened match due to rain in Bengaluru.
Punjab Kings (PBKS) successfully chased a revised target of 96 runs in 12.1 overs, after restricting Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 95/9 in a rain-affected match shortened to 14 overs per side. PBKS’s disciplined bowling performance and Nehal Wadhera’s responsible batting secured their victory.
“Variety is the spice of life, and we are here to experience all kinds of games here; it’s a great challenge,” said Iyer at the post-match presentation.
Iyer acknowledged that his in-game choices were primarily based on intuition.
“There was no thinking to be honest, I was just taking instinctive moves. I just didn’t want new batters to come in and settle in. Jansen was getting a lot of bounce, and he was bowling lethally,” he added.
Marco Jansen’s performance significantly impacted the game, with his economical bowling figures of 2 for 10 showcasing effective use of the pitch conditions.
The Punjab Kings captain praised his bowling attack’s ability to adjust to the match conditions.
“To be honest, we didn’t know how the wicket was going to feel, but the bowlers adapted to it. I had a chat with Arshdeep, and he said the hard-length balls were hard to hit. That was the chatter in the middle, and they executed brilliantly,” he noted.
Iyer praised veteran spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s excellent bowling performance, which yielded figures of 2 for 11.
“I personally had a chat with him and told him that you are a match-winner and you need to get us as many wickets as possible…He has a capability of bouncing back, and he is one of the best bowlers in the IPL,” he noted.
