SRH vs PBKS IPL 2025: Spin Bowling Coach Sunil Joshi Feels Punjab Kings Missed Their Chances Against Sunrisers

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Punjab Kings spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi takes positive from batting, but rued missed opportunities on the bowling front after the team suffered their second loss of the season following an 8-wicket defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad on Saturday (April 12).

Despite showcasing their aggressive batting style and posting 245/6 on the board, the Kings fell short in the bowling department as well as on the field as SRH chased down the target with 9 balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Openers Prabhsimran Singh (42 off 23) and Priyansh Arya (36 off 13) provided a rapid-fire start to the Kings' innings, followed by Shreyas Iyer's captain's knock of 82 runs, which came in just 36 balls.

Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis maintained the momentum and scored an unbeaten 34 off just 11 deliveries, playing an instrumental role with a late flourish that pushed the total to 245.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, however, launched a strong counter-attack, with Abhishek Sharma scoring a century - 141 runs off 55 balls, and his opening partner Travis Head contributing 66 off 37 balls.

Though Punjab Kings' bowling unit, led by Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal, managed to dismiss the opening duo in the later part of the match, Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan ensured that the Sunrisers ended on the winning side.

Reflecting on the match, Joshi said, "I think the positive to take away from this match is that our batters are definitely in great form. The bowling, however, needs to improve and we need to increase our dot-ball percentage.

"That's what we missed while bowling today on this wicket. On a good wicket, the only difference could be the dot-ball percentage in the middle overs. So that's the key, and we couldn't latch on to half of the chances."

The PBKS spin coach further added, "I think the bowlers didn't fail, I mean it's a good wicket. People come to see more sixes and boundaries rather than five-wicket hauls. So it was an opportunity for us to do well, but fair enough, we missed our chances."

PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer also felt that the bowling unit could have performed better on the night but ensured that the team will be back strong after making amends in their strategies.

The skipper, at the post-match presentation ceremony, said, "We didn't bowl to our expectations, we have to go to the drawing board and make amends. The opening partnership (between Abhishek and Head) was phenomenal, they didn't give us too many opportunities to capitalize. The over rotation could have been better from our side."

Punjab Kings will now look to bounce back when they return home to go up against Kolkata Knight Riders next on Tuesday (April 15) at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh.

Source: Media Release