For Punjab Kings, the match against Rajasthan Royals was same old story as the franchise suffered yet another defeat in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 campaign losing their 4th match from six matches on Saturday. It was Shimron Hetmyer whose late blitz took the Royals home, leaving the home side dismayed by a string of poor results. Seeing PBKS suffer a 3-wicket defeat in the match, not just the franchise's fans but also co-owner Preity Zinta was upset. In fact, the change in her mood from the start of the match to the end, summed up how PBKS' campaign has gone so far.
Zinta, who attends most of PBKS' home matches, couldn't hide her frustration as the franchise suffered a narrow defeat against RR.
Even PBKS' stand-in skipper Sam Curran admitted that though his side did not do well with the bat in the game, they have adapted well to the new home stadium in Mullanpur, as reflected by the close games they have had on the venue.
PBKS's IPL campaign received yet another jolt as they suffered a three-wicket loss to RR at Mullanpur, sending the Men in Pink to the top of the points tally with five wins and a loss. PBKS are at eighth after the close match with two wins and four losses under their belt. Curran captained PBKS in place of an injured Shikhar Dhawan. PBKS's home venue this season is the Mullanpur Stadium, instead of PCA Stadium in Mohali.
"The wicket was slightly slow, but we didn't start well with the bat and didn't finish well in the end. It was a good effort from the lower order, getting (close) to 150 was excellent, the bowling was good, we kept them down, unfortunately another close loss. We stuck to our plans, bowled and fielded well, but I am confident we will bounce back in the next game. Three games is a hard way to fully work out the conditions (at the new venue), but we have adapted well, we won the first match and lost two matches by close margins (by 2 runs and 3 wickets), it is hard to take, but the boys will be lifted by how well we have played in the last couple of games," Sam said.
With ANI inputs