Punjab Kings crashed to a defeat in their second game of the VIVO Indian Premier League on Friday, as they were outplayed by Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium. The team’s revered batting line-up failed to live up their billing, as they could only manage to get a little over 100 runs on the board, which was easily chased down by Chennai.

Despite the rather forgettable game, Punjab Kings skipper believes there were certain positives to take away from this clash for his franchise, particularly the way his new fast bowlers came back after taking a thrashing in their first game against Rajasthan Royals.

“The way the Australian bowlers performed is a big positive for us. Obviously, we have pace in our attack and want to be using that. Against Rajasthan, it was their first game and I’m sure they were a bit nervous, but that’s how the IPL goes and that’s how playing in India sometimes can be,” said Rahul in the post-match interview.

“It is good to see that they came back stronger this game, and they gave us crucial breakthroughs. It was good to see the way they bowled,” added the Punjab Kings skipper.

Shahrukh stands out

Another new recruit who stood out for Punjab on Friday was the hard-hitting Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan. While most of his colleagues were dismissed for single digit scores, the 25-year-old played confidently as he scored a vital 46 runs to get the team score past a hundred.

“I’m new to the IPL. It is a completely different scenario compared to domestic cricket. Here I’m getting to learn a lot of things, trying to improve my game every session. Really having a good time training under Wasim Jaffer and Andy Flower, hopefully I’ll be able to do well,” said Shahrukh in the post-match press conference.

“The pitch was a bit slow today, so I wanted to hang around for some time and assess the pitch better, so that slog overs would have been a bit easier for me. I think if I was able to play those last five balls in the last over, we could have been 20 runs more which would have been a fighting score,” added Shahrukh.