Needing 23 off 21 balls, it looked like the Delhi Capitals (DC) were set to cruise to their third win of this edition of the Indian Premier League when Mohammed Shami dismissed Rishabh Pant. After that, the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) picked 7 wickets for just 8 runs as the won a nail-biting encounter by 14 runs in Mohali.
Speaking after the game on Monday here, KXIP skipper R. Ashwin made no bones about the fact that his team had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as DC looked to be cruising home with Pant and Colin Ingram looking very comfortable in the middle.
"When Rishabh hit the six, we just needed to hang in there. Credit to Shami and Curran. We were probably 25 runs short. We backed ourselves to defend with three spinners. All in all, dew also came in and played a factor," he said.
While Sam Curran stole the show with the hat-trick, he was earlier very impressive with the bat as he opened the batting for Punjab in the absence of Chris Gayle. Ashwin said that the idea was to give him freedom to express himself.
"We thought Chris wasn't there. We wanted to give him all the license up front. We are quite a bunch with experience and a lot of youngsters. We have to keep ourselves fresh," he said.
Ashwin also praised the crowd which kept supporting the home team even when it looked like Delhi were in cruise mode and would register a comfortable victory.
"We are having a very good experience. I have never seen a crowd like this in Mohali. It was extremely loud."
--IANS
bbh/ksk
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