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Kings XI Punjab ended up second best against Sunrisers Hyderabad yesterday night at the Dubai International Stadium, losing by 69 runs. The defeat leaves them at the bottom of the points table, as they still have only one win from their opening six matches, and with games coming thick and fast, KL Rahul and co. will hope to buck the trend soon and get some wins under their belt.

While there may be plenty of concerns to address for Anil Kumble and the rest of the KXIP management to address, the team would be proud of the way their youngsters rose to the occasion against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh, who was on debut for IPL 2020, picked up five of the six SRH wickets in yesterday’s clash, and were two of the most economical bowlers for the franchise on the day.

“IPL is the biggest platform and they’ve all been working really hard. The three weeks that we spent here. Arshdeep and Bishnoi today, it was so good to see them amongst the wickets, you know they bowled some really high pressure overs, so it’s great to see how they held their nerve and bowled those big overs for the team and on such a platform,” said KL Rahul in the post-match interview.

“So that will give them a lot of confidence, and the group a lot of confidence. So it’s important small things like these, it’s infectious, it can spread to the rest of them. Really happy to see how Bishy and Arshdeep bowled,” added the KXIP skipper.

Alongside picking wickets, these two youngsters also ensured that KXIP did not leak too many runs in the death overs, as SRH could only get 41 overs in the last five overs of their batting. Death bowling has been a concern for Kings XI Punjab this season, as their bowlers went for a lot of runs in the games against Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, so having a reprieve from that would have been a welcome relief for skipper KL Rahul.

“I think the talk has been only about being 100% clear and be on top of your mark on what you want to do and try and do the best you can and if a batter hits you from there, you say good shot and try and come back again and nail your plan. So it’s a positive thing, so hopefully batting and bowling come together soon and we can win a few games,” said Rahul in conclusion to the interview.