Despite a magnificent batting effort and a gritty bowling display for most part, the Shers succumbed to a last-ball defeat to the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Photo: SPORTZPICSSridharan Sriram, batting coach of the Kings XI Punjab, believes that the batting unit had done enough by posting a challenging 197/4 but a brilliant display from Keiron Pollard, who smashed a 31-ball 83, ended up being the difference between the two sides.
"I felt 185-190 was par on this track. But to chase 13 an over for 13 overs took some doing and it was extraordinary," he observed. "Our plans were good but today he (Pollard) was unstoppable."
Despite the heartbreak, Sriram insisted that playing five bowling options will continue to be the blueprint for the Shers.
"Our bowling combinations work as of now and we've had success as a bowling unit as well. You just have to take days like these," he concluded.
On a difficult day for the bowlers, Mohammed Shami's excellent spell of 3-21 in his quota of four overs was the pick of the lot and also his best figures in this campaign.
"We were pretty good as a bowling unit in bits and pieces particularly in the middle overs," captain Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out. "Shami was excellent but somehow we just couldn't close the game out.
"Sam was clearly under the pump, and obviously it can happen when there's a lot of dew and a batsman like Pollard is going after him," he added, referring to Curran's expensive spell where he conceded 54 runs in his quota. "It's his first experience in the IPL in such a situation, he'll definitely learn and get richer with the experience.
"We were trying to get the line and lengths right and with the dew you can sometimes miss the yorker, which happened a couple of times with Sam," Ashwin explained. "We were trying to mix up things but at the end of the day, Pollard batted beautifully and took the game away from us."
