Ravichandran Ashwin was left quite disappointed as skipper when his team Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) was beaten by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 14 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. It’s his first stint as skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the way the entire batting line-up collapsed within 88 runs in the previous game was indeed heart-breaking. Moreover, losing the game by 10 wickets proved to be an even bigger blow.
After losing the game, Ashwin’s gestures spoke everything about the defeat. However, he went on to speak about his expectations from his team and the forthcoming situations. He said,
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“We aren’t one of the top champion sides to be very honest, we are one of those sides that punched above our weight in the first half of the competition. To be very precise, I did expect to find ourselves in such a situation, but not this much; probably thought we might have won one or two more games and probably reached 14 or 16 points.”
On the other hand, it has been observed in the last few games that too much dependence on the opening duo of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle has troubled the overall performance. In addition, the average performance of the overseas is another issue which the KXIP need to overcome.
ALSO READ: RCB Bowls Out KXIP For 88, Fans Call For Change In Captaincy!
Despite starting the tournament with a blast, winning 5 games out of the first 6, KXIP are now struggling in the last leg to make way for the playoffs. They are left with two more games, that too, away from home. Keeping these encounters in the mind, Ashwin thinks they still can be ‘dangerous’ at times.
“It’s very important to forget these 12 games and look forward to the remaining two. Most teams are in the same situation now – except for CSK and SRH (needing to win their last two matches). I believe we can be very dangerous at such times. Desperate teams can be dangerous to beat.”
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After losing to RCB, KXIP will play their next game against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on May 16 followed by their last battle in the league stages against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on May 20.
