Exasperated after his side slumped to their fourth defeat in the Indian Premier League here tonight, Kings XI Punjab skipper Kumar Sangakkara blamed the 31-run loss against Rajasthan Royals on the batsmen, saying they "committed suicide" in the middle overs.
Exasperated after his side slumped to their fourth defeat in the Indian Premier League here tonight, Kings XI Punjab skipper Kumar Sangakkara blamed the 31-run loss against Rajasthan Royals on the batsmen, saying they "committed suicide" in the middle overs.
Chasing 184 for their only second win in the tournament, the home side were in a position of strength at 107 for two in the 11th over before things went haywire and they eventually folded for 152 in 19.1 overs.
"We got off to a flourish and then (Manvinder) Bisla also batted well. But despite getting a good start and a good foundation, we kept losing wickets. We should have won comfortably but we simply committed suicide in the middle overs," rued Sangakkara.
The Kings XI middle and lower order batsmen, including star cricketer Yuvraj Singh, came a cropper today and Sangakkara admitted they have not clicked as a team yet.
u00a0"The entire team has to make contribution and click as a unit. There is a pride when you play for your country. It should be same in IPL also as you play for your franchise. We have got to raise our game and show more intensity," he said. Sangakkara tried to defend the poor form of Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif but admitted they were struggling for runs.
"Yuvraj is not having the greatest of tournaments but it happens to a batsman. Kaif, on the other hand, has played enough international cricket and we trusted his ability. He is not having a good time of course," said the Sri Lankan.
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