Mayank Agarwal explains why Punjab Kings tweaked their batting order
After a successful win against the Gujarat Titans, Punjab Kings captain Mayank Agarwal revealed why he dropped himself down the order and hinted toward a probable change in the batting line-up for the forthcoming games of the IPL 2022.
Agarwal decided to bat in the middle-order in the recently concluded game and did not join Shikhar Dhawan to open the innings. Instead, it was Jonny Bairstow who walked alongside Dhawan, however, he failed miserably as he scored just a single run. The change in the lineup worked for PBKS as Dhawan batted freely to lead the game from the front and scored an unbeaten 53-ball 62.
Agarwal spoke about the reason behind him taking such a decision as he said that it was for the good for the team as they missed getting hands on some crucial games recently.
“We would like to string a few wins back-to-back now (Decision to send Liam Livingstone up the order and Bairstow to open). We’re trying to get the best out of Jonny. He’s done well opening the innings and I said I’ll go anchor at No. 4 and he can express himself. Shikhar was going to bat through and Livy could go up there and play the way he wants to play. It was nice the way he played and got the score pretty quickly,” the captain said during the post-match presentation,
Agarwal also praised the bowling department, saying that they his team an outstanding job in keeping the Titans’ batters in check. He added that the squad would like to push itself to put up a fight against other opponents from now on. It seemed like a piece of cake for PBKS when they defeated GT in the game on Tuesday, winning by eight wickets. Restricting GT to 144 runs, PBKS chased the target in just 16 overs, which helped them jump to the fifth place in the points table.