Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer blamed the bowling and fielding for their fourth consecutive defeat in the Indian Premier League here on Monday after a three-wicket defeat against Delhi Capitals.
Chasing Punjab’s target of 211 runs, Delhi Capitals, despite losing three wickets for 33 runs, won by scoring 216 runs for seven wickets in 19 overs with the half-centuries of captain Akshar Patel (56 runs, 30 balls, eight fours, two sixes) and David Miller (51 runs, 28 balls, three fours, four sixes) and a 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket between them.
Punjab had scored 210 runs for five wickets with the half-centuries of captain Iyer (59 not out from 36 balls with three sixes and five fours) and Priyansh Arya (56 runs from 33 balls with six sixes and two fours).
Iyer said after the match, “There is no need to twist things, but once again the fielding and bowling disappointed.” Iyer, however, said that he had scored more runs than the competitive score.
The Punjab captain said, “I think it was 30 runs too many on this wicket. Seeing how the ball was seaming and the bounce was also uneven.
On not giving a chance to spinner Yuzvendra Chahal to bowl, Iyer said, “I had thought about it but the way the ball was seaming, if we had kept our line and length right, we might have got wickets.” But we could not do this. I always say that hard length or short of hard length is the best ball.
