Disheartening to lose close games, but lot of positives: Curran

Punjab Kings (PBKS) lost yet another close match, this time against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Mullanpur. Chasing 193, they were never in the game, having lost half their side with just 49 on the board in the seventh over. From there, they made a match of it, eventually losing the match by just nine runs after a spectacular knocks from Shashank Singh (41) and Ashutosh Sharma (61) took them close.

While expressing his disappointment PBKS skipper Sam Curran reckons it is better to lose a close game that getting thrashed.

"Another close one, I think this team likes a close one, but unfortunately another loss. Another incredible knock from the young guy [Ashutosh Sharma], but another close loss. It's very tough, you want to lose close games rather then getting absolutely thumped, but we've lost a lot of wickets at the start, the way the younger guys have taken the team so close is heartening," Curran said in the post-match presentation.

"It's disheartening to lose close games, but there are a lot of positives in this team. We still have the belief in us, we believe we can turn this around, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will hopefully get on a winning run."

MI skipper Hardik Pandya too praised Ashutosh's knock. "Unbelievable - coming in and playing like that (Ashutosh's knock). Almost every ball hitting the middle. Happy for him and chuffed for his future," he said.

Player of the match Jasprit Bumrah, who finished with figures of 3/21, spoke about the challenges of the impact player rule. "This format is a little difficult for bowlers, with time restrictions and impact player rules. Batting lineup becomes deeper and deeper," Bumrah said. 

"But that's not in your control. I do relay the message to the bowlers whenever I can. But you also don't want to deliver too many messages in the heat of the moment."

MI have now won three of their seven games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 this season. They take on Rajasthan ROyals (RR) next on April 22 (Monday). PBKS, who are ninth on the table, play Gujarat Titans (GT) in Mullanpur on April 21 (Sunday).