Punjab Kings put on 195 on the board in the first innings on Sunday, but that wasn’t enough as opponents Delhi Capitals managed to chase that down with an over to spare in the 2021 VIVO Indian Premier League. While Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan played brilliantly to anchor that chase for his franchise, the chasing side were aided by the conditions and dew on offer in the second innings at the Wankhede Stadium.

“We felt like if we got 180-190 it would be great on this pitch, but obviously coming to the Wankhede, with the dew effect, bowling second was always going to be hard,” said Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul in the post-match interview.

“Dew is not something that is unexpected. When we come to the Wankhede we know that bowling second is always a challenge, so we as a bowling unit try to prepare for such conditions but having said that, it does get difficult in a game situation, especially against quality batters,” added Rahul.

The dew did make things difficult for the Punjab Kings bowlers, as experienced by Mohammed Shami who delivered a waist length full-toss to Marcus Stoinis which induced a wicket. However, the ball was deemed as a no ball and after that let off, Stoinis really took the game away from Punjab by smashing three fours and a six.

“I think it would be only fair to the team bowling second if the ball gets changed regularly with the dew, I’m not saying that only because I’m on the losing side today, I think it is only fair that the team bowling second does not have such a huge disadvantage.

“Our bowlers really practice their skills with a wet ball, but when you go out in the middle in a pressure situation it is always difficult. I did ask for the umpires to change the ball a couple of times, but it is not really in the rule books. So that’s how the game goes, we got to take it,” concluded Rahul.