Punjab Kings head coach Sanjay Bangar on Sunday rued that winning just one out of their seven home matches had played a role in their below-par Indian Premier League season as they finished ninth out of 10 teams in the highly-competitive T20 tournament. (Full Coverage)
Punjab Kings lost by four wickets to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyd🥀erabad on Sunday to finish their league engagement on 10 points fಌrom 14 matches.
"We could not adapt to the home conditions. We won four out🦹 of the seven awaꦕy matches but out of the seven home matches we just managed to win one. So, if a team has to progress in a tournament, certainly that is a worrying aspect," Bangar said at the post-match press conference.
"The four games we lost back-to-back through mid season, all of them home matches, and the two close games we lost, hurt us. In some matches which went down the wire, we could not win the crucial moments🗹. If you leave so many things to be done in the later half of the season then it's always a challenge."
Bangar said the batting show of the domestic players Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma was one of the𝔍 positives of his side t🐭his season.
"If you look at the per𓄧formances of the domestic batsmen Prabhsimran Singh, Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, those are the real positives for us as far as our season goes in the batting department."
The former India batter said the loss of players like Liam Livingstone and Kagido Rabada hurt the team.
"When we went to the auction, the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) had made it clear that all the players wiꦓll be available. It is just that it so happens that the tournament got slightly extended, I would say, because of multiple reasons. Everybody were in a similar position but we lost tho♏se English players," he said.
"For us, even losing Livingstone with a niggle around his knee, the ECB pulling him out. Even KG (Kagiso Rabada) had an infection and he had to go back (to South Africa). Those things coupled together meant that when we came to the last two matches, we were short of players of international pedigree and experien🅰ce.
"That hurt us but that is not the sole reason why our🦹 𓄧season was below par."
Talking about Sunday's match against SRH, ꧑he said, "We could ღnot contain them (SRH batters) after having the wicket of Travis Head first ball. We could have bowled a little bit better.
"Once the field spread out we co🌟uld have applied a little more pressure on them. We have given💟 away 15-20 runs too many in powerplay."
