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Following his side's four-wicket loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Sanjay Bangar said they failed to adapt to the home conditions in the 17th season of the T20 tournament.
PBKS end IPL 2024 campaign at the ninth spot with five wins, nine losses and 10 points. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Bangar pointed out that the Punjab-based franchise won just four of seven games and could just seal one victory in seven home matches. "We could not adapt to the home conditions. We won four out of the seven away matches but out of the seven home matches we just managed to win one. So, if a team has to progress in a tournament, certainly that is a worrying aspect," Bangar said. The head coach added that they could not win the crucial games in the tournament. "The four games we lost back-to-back through mid season, all of them home matches, and the two close games we lost, hurt us. In some matches which went down the wire, we could not win the crucial moments. If you leave so many things to be done in the later half of the season then it's always a challenge," he added. Recapping the match, PBKS won the toss and elected to bat first. A hard-hitting half-century from Prabhsimran Singh (71 in 45 balls, with seven fours and four sixes) and knocks from Rilee Rossouw (49 in 24 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and Atharva Taide (46 in 27 balls, with five fours and two sixes) set the tone for a big total, taking PBKS to 214/5 in their 20 overs. T Natarajan (2/33) was the pick of the bowlers for SRH. In the run-chase, after losing Travis Head for a duck, Abhishek Sharma (66 in 28 balls, with five fours and six sixes), Nitish Kumar Reddy (37 in 25 balls, with a four and three sixes) and Heinrich Klaasen (42 in 26 balls, with three fours and two sixes) played fiery knocks to propel SRH to 215/6 in 19.1 overs, winning the game with five balls left. Arshdeep Singh (2/37) was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS. Abhishek Sharma was the Player of the Match for his quickfire fifty. SRH is at number two in the points table, with eight wins, five losses and a no result, with 17 points. (ANI)
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