IPL 2021: ‘Finishing In Last Two Balls Is Lottery’, Punjab Coach Anil Kumble Laments RR Loss

Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Anil Kumble has hit back at his own players stating ‘it becomes a lottery’ if let it till the end for the winning runs after the KL Rahul-led side lost to Rajasthan Royals by two runs in a thrilling IPL 2021 encounter in Dubai on Tuesday. (More Cricket News)

PBKS failed to score four runs in the final over with the Royals young gun Karthik Tyagi dismissing Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda and conceded just one run to cap off vital two points. Describing the loss to RR a ‘difficult pill to swallow’, Kumble rued that it has become a pattern for them.

“It’s sort of become a bit of a pattern for us, especially as soon as we get to Dubai, it seems. There was a clear message saying we need to finish this game in 19 overs, and that was the approach,” Kumble said at the post-match press conference.

“Unfortunately, we let it till the end, and in the last couple of balls it becomes a lottery (with) a new batsman going in, it is a bit of lottery,” added the former Indian cricketer. The legendary leg-spinner gave credit to Tyagi for the way he bowled the final over.

“But credit to how Tyagi bowled the last over, it was pretty obvious that he’s going to bowl wide outside the off stump, but somehow our batters didn’t take the right options. We have five more games, but again, we don’t want to get bogged down by this defeat. It’s certainly a difficult pill to swallow,” elaborated Kumble.

At a time when RR was looking to get past the 200-run mark, the likes of Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Harpreet Brar bowled brilliantly to take the last six wickets for 19 runs. The 50-year-old lamented that his batsmen could have shown more maturity to finish the game considering the fact they were in the game till the 17th overs.

“I think the batting showed till the 17th over that we were cruising, unfortunately, 18th, 19th (over) sort of pulled us back after that six (Aiden) Markram hit. After that, we just got singles and then lost wickets and took it to the last over, which unfortunately we couldn’t finish,” he added.

According to Kumble, the team management had given a clear message to finish the game in 19 overs, but unfortunately, it did not turn out that way.

“As batsmen, they certainly know what their scoring shots are, it’s not about just the scoop. It also boils down to that particular batsman. When you have 8 runs in 12 balls, I don’t think we needed a scoop, all it needed was a bit of hitting, and even if someone got out, the next batsman would at least get five or six balls to get those runs.

“When it goes to the last couple of balls, it becomes really hard,” said Kumble.