IPL 2019: KL Rahul enjoying his batting and Ravi Ashwin aims to extend KXIP's winning streak at home

Sport360 staff 23:14 08/04/2019
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  • KL Rahul.

    Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar praised his bowlers for putting on a solid effort despite the dew factor in their narrow defeat to Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League. He felt that his team was about 20 runs short of a good total.

    “The way we bowled I am pretty happy given the dew. Still there are areas in our bowling we can improve. We were 20 runs short but what we all did believe in ourselves,” he said.

    Man of the match KL Rahul confessed that he did struggle to have his way with the bat in the first couple of games but has now found his rhythm.

    “Didn’t start off the way I wanted in the first couple of games. All the fifties have come in chasing and I am enjoying my batting. I’ve been playing with Chris (Gayle) for a long time and have been playing with Mayank (Agarwal) since my childhood.

    “The way Mayank came out, the way he was striking gave me a little bit of time. He hurt his finger, he was in pain, to play that sort of innings was incredible. I did tell (Sam) Curran that hitting sixes was difficult, so look to hit the pockets. He tried to hit sixes but luckily for us, it went in the gaps,” he said.

    Winning captain Ravichandran Ashwin was happy with the win but he pointed out that there is still room for improvement. The spinner is looking to extend their winning streak at home, which is currently at seven.

    “Too close for comfort, to be brutally honest. The biggest positive for me is there is scope for improvement and there is enough capability in the dressing room to do that. I think we bowled extremely well to (David) Warner, Ankit (Rajpoot) was splendid, Sam was brilliant.

    “I would love it (seven-match winning streak at home) be 11 in a row. It’s very important on this ground to bowl spinners with the new ball and Mujeeb (Ur Rahman) has always done it for Afghanistan,” Ashwin explained.

    Agarwal scored a half century and put on a 114-run stand with Rahul to help Punjab chase down the target of 151. The 28-year-old admitted that things got tricky in the end, but Rahul showed enough composure to see the game through.

    “With 19 off 19, somebody had to take a chance. Definitely some nerves. One over 11 needed and Nabi bowling but we backed ourselves. We enjoy batting together. I am glad he was there till the end and could finish game off,” Agarwal admitted.

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