Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 27 (ANI): After his side’s disappointing 8-wicket loss against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate said there’s no point crying about it now.
Out of eight matches, KKR have registered five victories, collecting 10 points in the IPL 2024 standings, staying at the number 2 position.
While speaking at the post-match press conference, Doeschate said that it would be tough in the upcoming days of the tournament but they have to find innovative ways.
“Yes it’s going to be tough, but you got to find innovative and new ways for the next four weeks at least, it (this season) is going to be there that long, so no point crying about it. Everything was already in the batter’s favour, I feel sorry for the bowlers as it’s gone more towards their side now. But those are the facts, the realities. My way to deal with this would be to find a way to land a punch back at the batters,” Doeschate said.
The assistant coach praised Sunil Narine and Philip Salt’s blitz knock in the first inning of the match. He added that it was “nice” to see Shreyas Iyer getting back into rhythm.
“What type of score is a good score? 260 has gotta be a good score. We didn’t stop scoring boundaries. Sunil and Salt were fantastic, it was nice to see the captain get a bit of rhythm again – probably the biggest positive for us tonight. We could play on this piece of marble here and if you give me 260 runs, it should be enough. There is a danger of aiming too high. We need to aim for at least 240 if the wicket is as good as this,” he added.
Coming to the match, Punjab sent Kolkata to bat first after winning the toss. Following this, Sunil Narine (71) and Philip Salt (75) delighted the Eden Gardens crowd with an exhilarating batting display and obliterated Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowlers to power KKR to 261/6 in 20 overs.
Arshdeep Singh led the PBKS bowling unit after he picked up two wickets.
During the run chase, Jonny Bairstow (108) and Shashank Singh (68) played an unbeaten knock to chase down the massive target and script history.
Narine was the only wicket-taker for the KKR.
Meanwhile, Punjab hold the eighth place with six points after winning three of nine games. (ANI)
