Punjab Kings kept their playoff hopes alive with a commanding win over Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium. Lucknow Super Giants were batting first and they lost a couple of wickets early but Josh Inglis smashed a half century and with some good finish they got to a total of 195 at the end of the first innings. Chasing the target, Shreyas Iyer smashed a century to help Punjab Kings chase down the target with a few overs spare. This win means that Punjab Kings move to the fourth spot and they will need RR to lose tomorrow to qualify for the playoffs.
LSG 196/6 (Inglis 72, Chahal 2/25)
PBKS 200/3 (Iyer 101*, Shami 2/42 )
Ponting | PBKS coach:
We've done it the hard way, let's put it that way. We've done what we needed to do today. Sloppy in the field again, gave them 20 more runs than what they should've got. Pretty clinical chase, especially being in trouble early. The captain, he's done that all season. When there's been a run chase on like that, he's pretty much everytime put his hand up and got the job done. That's his first IPL century tonight. We'll celebrate that and then we'll sit around and wait for those results tomorrow. There's a reason I spent as much money at the auction as I did a couple of years ago (on Iyer). He's a ripping guy, very mature player now, very mature leader. More often than not keeps his emotions in check on the field. The respect he has from his players is second to none. The moment he stands in front of the group and speaks, not a single eyeball leaves a single word he says. Delighted to work with him. Really happy on the season he's had. Great to see him back in the Indian one day team. I really think there's a bigger, brighter future for him in the Indian T20 team as well. The level of cricket we played in the first half was a level I've never seen before. And then we just made some crucial errors at different times in the last six games. Today was a whole lot better. Terrific player (Prabhsimran). It's probably only been the last couple of years that he himself has realised how good he is. Him and Priyansh have been outstanding for us the last couple of seasons. Prabh's been rewarded as well with some India A selection which is fantastic recognition for him. Seeing him play a mature innings tonight in a good run chase will do him a world of good. We've got a pretty good team room here. We'll try to get the boys together and watch it (the RR-MI game). I haven't got many fingernails left. By tomorrow afternoon, they could be a whole lot shorter.
Pant | LSG captain:
Initial thoughts are - it's a tough one. Still have to bite the bullet regardless of anything. Gonna keep our head high. There has been a lot of learning regardless of good or bad. Definitely a tough season for us as a team for sure. Always you can get 5-10 runs more but I think there was enough on the total. But at the same time it's harder because in the second innings at Ekana the wicket gets better to bat on all the time. That's why everyone wants to field first. Want to look at the positives as a team. Josh has come in and played a brilliant knock. Mitch is not here - he has done really well for us. Bowling - Prince has had an amazing season. Last few games he's been here and there but he had a terrific season, got an Indian call. Mohsin coming back from injury. Definitely a lot of positives. Especially Shami bhai, the way he has kept that fast bowling unit together has been wonderful to see. Sometimes idea without accountability is the harder thing to do. At the same time you gotta keep focussing on the right thing and be on the right path regardless of good and bad. You accept everything and move on from it. It's been a long season but at the same time, just keeping our head high and we promise to come back stronger next year regardless of anything.
Shreyas Iyer | POTM and PBKS captain:
I'm ecstatic to be honest. It's my first hundred of the season and came at the right time when the team needed it. We won eventually after six consecutive losses. It's a great positive and just hoping to support MI tomorrow. Elated by their performance (the bowlers). Even though we went 16 off the first over. Just to get the game back towards us - Azmat bowled brilliant. The first over which he bowled, getting a wicket and saving those crucial runs. It's all about momentum in this situation and just to get the game back, especially Yuzi the way he came back and restricted runs. He got the crucial wicket of Rishabh Pant. Kudos to him, he leaked a lot of runs in the last game but he showed his character. I know if I give myself some time in the middle and time the ball as much as possible rather than getting on top of the ball and trying to score off a good ball. I feel it's necessary for me to stay out there as much as possible because then the runs keep coming. Prabh - the way he took on the bowlers, it takes two to tango. He seriously showed us what he's capable of. He was temperamentally active and the communication we had in the middle was sensational. It's a surreal feeling when you finish off the game and score a century. All the batsmen dream of that. Today was one of the days when I felt super. I was in a great mindspace. I knew what I wanted, knew how the wicket was playing. Kinda reading the situation and how the wicket was playing helped me to score my runs and the partnership was crucial. That creates the momentum in the game and just to win it from there, I'm elated. We didn't say anything (message to the team), just kept it simple. Rather than having meetings, putting more pressure on the boys. You kinda get lost in the previous losses when you discuss a lot. It's important that you let them be. Free flow of mind is required in crucial matches. You don't want to make them overthink in pressure situations. Today I literally told Ricky that let's not do any team meetings. Let's just head to the ground and do our rituals which we've been doing consistently and we could see the result.
