After the defeat to RCB, Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting named ‘Virat Kohli’ in nominated entry

Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting was disappointed by his team’s batting attempts against Royal Challengers Bangalore as he felt that the strip was better than 157 during the seven -wicket defeat in the IPL game on Sunday. Virat Kohli chased with an unbeaten 73, while Devdutt Padikal contributed 61 as RCB won with seven balls.

“I think the wicket was better than 157. We had a lot of batsmen started, not to move forward and make those big scores, and it is important in T20 cricket, especially people at the top of the order.”

Ponting urged his team to take out a leaf from Kohli’s book and learn how he captured in a good beginning.

“Virat tonight bats, sees his team home, and we were not enough to capitalize on a good start. I think at the end of the power play we were 62 for 1, too much where you want to play.

“So directly there you are looking at the score of 180 Plus, even pushing on 200 if your middle order bats well, but we lost the wickets again tonight, which is not the first time in the tournament,” Ponting seemed a bit worried.

Ponting appreciated RCB spinners Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya and also felt that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazelwood were fantastic between 17 and 20 overs.

“I felt that his spinners bowled well, and the bowling of his death was extraordinary at the end. Bhuvi and Hazelwood, four overs that he bowled finally, we still thought we could reach close to 180, but his death was very good and we were struggling 157.

“Here unlike the previous game, where we pulled a win from somewhere, we were not enough to do so tonight.”

We had four different strips in four games

Ponting feels that the strip had no uniform nature in Mulanpur and the type meant that the team needed to adjust to play a house game every time.

“One thing we know about it, it does not provide much speed and does not offer a lot of bounce, and we talk about that. And to be honest, to be honest, the four games we have played here, each wicket is a bit different, so it takes a little time to adjust it.” Punjab Kings now have a six-day break and Ponting would like the team’s Kolkata Knight Riders back to the drawing board before playing next.

Legend said, “We have got a good break, we have now got a break of about six days, which I think there are three games in about five days.”

“Boys need a little fresh, time to get away, forget about this result and make sure that we focus on our next challenge, which KKR is below, which we know will be a big game for us.”

(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)