Missed opportunity: Punjab Kings could not hold on to its chances against RCB and crashed out of the playoff race.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
A butterfingered Punjab Kings paid the price for dropping five catches as it crashed out of the Indian Premier League after a defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
The Kings gave two lifelines to Virat Kohli early on in the innings and the superstar made the most of those reprieves to score a classy 92 and ensured RCB stayed alive in the playoff race.
While Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin admitted that those dropped catches cost his team the game, RCB’s Cameron Green was of the opinion that an opponent team cannot afford to give Kohli so many chances.
“He will make you hurt, especially early in the innings — when he is trying to be aggressive. After a couple of drops, he played like he didn’t have anything to lose. He played like vintage Virat that we all know,” Green said on Thursday.
Talking about Kings’ tough day on the field, where the side not only dropped Kohli, but also provided a lifeline to Rajat Patidar, who went on to score yet another fifty. “100 per cent we lost the match because of dropped catches. If we look through the game, we dropped two guys on a duck, and both of them scored big runs. That was where the game was lost,” Haddin said.
This was the tenth consecutive season that Punjab failed to reach the playoffs, whereas for RCB, there’s still hope.
