KXIP will regain momentum at home, says Manan Vohra

Hyderabad, April 18 

Kings XI Punjab have lost their third match on the trot but Manan Vohra feels there is no need to press the panic button just yet as the side will regain momentum during its home matches.

Vohra’s 95-run knock went in vain against Sunrisers Hyderabad last night and the visitors went down by five runs in a chase of 160.

It was Punjab’s third successive loss but the Chandigarh batsman denied that his team was under any pressure as of now.

“This is still early stage of the tournament. But we would like to get back the winning momentum once we are back to our home ground,” Vohra said.

Punjab will be playing their first home game of the season in Mohali on April 28 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Reflecting on the team’s performance last night, Vohra said it was a good bowling effort to restrict Hyderabad to 160. “...because the wicket was batting-friendly, it was slower on one side. Bowlers did their job as well as the fielders,” he pointed out.

“We just lost our way in between, in the early stages of the chase. I got a great opportunity to finish the game, but I could not do that. I am pretty sad about it,” Vohra said.

With seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar scalping five wickets, Sunrisers Hyderabad put up a superb all-round show after captain David Warner led with a 70-run knock.

“David Warner is a legend of this game. He just changed gears. Still, I think 160 was not a bad total to stop them,” Vohra said.

Hyderabad’s wicket-keeper-batsman Naman Ojha, meanwhile, said his team could have won more easily. “We dropped too many chances. I think we should have taken it. I think it was a slow and low wicket. We thought 160 was a good total on this wicket because the ball kept low,” he said. — PTI