Kings XI Punjab skipper R Ashwin believes his team bounced back in the tournament at the right time and lavished praise on young pacer Arshdeep Singh for taking two crucial wickets in his IPL debut here Tuesday.
After suffering successive losses, KXIP Tuesday brought their campaign back on track with a comprehensive 12-run win over Rajasthan Royals at home to grab the fourth spot in the table with 10 points.
"It was very important to get that 10-point mark and I guess it's the right time in the tournament to do that," said Ashwin after KXIP restricted RR to 170 for 7 while chasing 182 for six.
"Its very tough to defend here, the wicket generally gets better in the second half. We probably thought we were 10-15 runs short on this pitch."
"We are looking forward to Arshdeep doing some great things in the tournament."
Talking about his game, Ashwin said: "For me, it's about getting various lengths with different speeds and trying to get the batsman with under cutter and reverse carrom. I worked on a lot of things despite people actually calling me for trying too many things, I kept on going."
"Discussion between me and Stuart was take it deep. Tripathi started really well. Should learn from our mistakes. These things happen in T20 cricket. Our two legspinners in the middle overs were brilliant. Jofra's four overs were critical."