A collective failure: Rahane on defeat against Punjab Kings

My batters were pretty reckless with their shots in going after a target which was pretty chasable, Rahane said in the post-match briefing

HYDERABAD: Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane said it was a collective failure of the batting unit which failed to chase down a meagre target of 112 against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur (Punjab) on Tuesday night.

“My batters were pretty reckless with their shots in going after a target which was pretty chasable. You all saw what happened there. Pretty disappointed with the effort,” Rahane said in the post-match briefing.

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“I’ll take the blame. As the captain of the team, I played the wrong shot even though it [the ball] was missing [the stumps]. But again, it started from there. We batted really badly as a batting unit, and we take full responsibility as a batting unit. I thought the bowlers did really well on the surface, restricting a strong Punjab batting line-up to 111,” Rahane said.”

“It’s not like Punjab bowled very well. I think we played bad cricket as a batting unit. I take this responsibility as a captain that we couldn’t chase this down,” he said.

On failing to take the review after he was given out lbw, Rahane said as a batter he thought that he could save the review for later. “It shouldn’t happen that I take a review and lose it, and then we are only left with one review,” Rahane said.

“Generally, the batsmen in front of you, you think about what they say. The communication wasn’t that clear: ‘Maybe it could be the umpire’s call, maybe it could be hitting.’ That’s why I didn’t take a review. But again, no complaints,” Rahane said.

“It was not a flat wicket. There was something for the bowlers. We had to grind it out. T20, I believe, is not only about hitting sixes. Though we are seeing at this moment that most of the players are going for big shots, they want to look good while batting, it’s not about that,” he explained.

“You still have to be positive. It’s still halfway to the tournament. As a team, as a unit, we still have to be positive and keep a good brand of cricket. But at the same time, we would definitely like to address the stuff,” the Punjab captain concluded.