Moody: Chawla was brilliantMohali: Kings XI Punjab coach Tom Moody was elated after his team’s third victory in 11 matches.
Talking to the mediapersons, after his team’s surprisingly convincing six-wicket win over Mumbai Indians, Moody said that though it was a disappointing tournament for the Punjab side, they would want to win their remaining matches to finish with their heads “held high”.
“I’m happy with this all-round performance. We had a disappointing tournament so far but we want to win the remaining matches so that we can still walk away with our head held high.”
Asked what was the idea behind bringing in five new players for Friday’s match, Moody said that they wanted to try out some of the players.
“It was hard to leave out someone like (Ravi) Bopara but we also wanted to give chance to (Adrian) Barath, who did not have fair chance. And also we decided to give opportunity to players like Love Ablish and Reetinder Singh Sodhi.”
Moody was particularly happy with leg-spinner Piyush Chawla’s bowling and said that the youngster justified his selection in India’s World T20 squad with his Friday’s performance.
“Chawla bowled exceptionally well and showed why he’s in India’s World T20 squad. Today (Friday) he did a terrific job, picking up wickets early. Taking wickets in first 10 overs always puts opponents under pressure and we have not been able to do that in earlier matches.”
Mumbai Indians director of coaching TA Sekar said they were 20 runs short.
“We lost quick wickets and fell short by about 20 runs. Otherwise we could have defended it,” Sekar said.
Sekar admitted playing at home in the early phase of the tournament was of great help.
“Playing at home always has its advantage. But the Mohali track was equally good but we just did not have enough runs to defend,” he said.
Sekar conceded chinks have appeared on Mumbai Indian’s batting armour but said it would be sorted out before the next match.
“We will regroup and address this batting concern. We wanted to win this game and seal the semi-final berth here but our batting unfortunately did not click. We will look into it and will confirm our last-four berth as quickly as possible,” he said.
Kings XI captain and Man of the Match Kumar Sangakkara expressed satisfaction that his team were finally able to win at home.
He also praised his bowlers to for restricting the Mumbai side to 154.
“Finally a win at home. Piyush bowled magnificently. Irfan bowled really well too. And Love bowled that fantastic final over… Then with the start that Barath and Mahela (Jayawardene) gave us, we were able to finish it in a fine manner,” Sangakkara said.
Sangakkara’s counterpart Sachin Tendulkar, too, said that his team fell 20 runs short of the ideal total. He also emphasised the importance of playing to their potential to avoid such defeats in the future.
“The only positive thing that happened for us today was the partnership between me and (Ambati) Rayudu, and we fell short by about 20 runs. Then they (Kings XI) batted well. Two losses but long way to go… We have got more matches, and we have to make sure we play to our potential,” Sachin said. (PTI)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100410/jsp/sports/story_12324528.jsp
AuthorTopic: IPL Today King's XI Punjab v/s Mumbai Indians (Read 666 times)
