Batting remains a concern: Ashwin

Indore, May 15 

After suffering a 10-wicket defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin reckons that his team has a problem in the batting department.

Monday’s defeat was the third consecutive loss for Punjab. First they lost to Rajasthan Royals followed by Kolkata Knight Riders and then to Bangalore.

“We have a problem with our batting. We are not one of the top champion sides to be very honest, we are one of those sides that punched above our weight in the first half of the competition,” Ashwin said after the loss.

“To be precise, I did expect to find ourselves in such a situation, but not this much. Probably, thought we might have won one or two more games and reached 14 or 16 points,” he said.

“Defending on this ground isn’t easy. We perhaps made the mistake of trying to score more than the par score and thereby ended up losing wickets. We did not play according to the situation,” the skipper added.

With the loss, Punjab have slipped to fifth position in the points table.

Commenting on the bad form of the middle-order, Ashwin said: “I played in a franchise before called CSK where one batsman (Murali Vijay) made absolutely no runs during the league stage and then went on to make 95 in the final. Big batsmen come good at the big moments. It’s not rocket science. You need to have the belief.”

Ashwin said the wicket at Wankhede Stadium carries bounce which foreign players like. So in the upcoming match, Ashwin is hopeful that players like Chris Gayle and Aaron Finch will click and hand his team a much needed win. — IANS