Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper George Bailey has blamed their awful batting for the loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 20 runs in match no. 27 of the Pepsi Indian Premier Legaue (IPL) 2015 on Monday.
Chasing a modest total of 151 runs, KXIP kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Half the side was back in the dugout when they still needed another 79 runs to win in seven overs. Wriddhiman Saha top-scored with 42 runs from 33 balls, a valiant effort that went in vain. Bailey too was involved in building a partnership with Murali Vijay, but got out at a crucial time.
Bailey feels that the top order has to perform in order to win matches. If the top order fails, it becomes difficult for the middle order and the tail-enders, and that's the area where they have failed throughout this tournament and really need to work on.
"It was our batting, the top order again [that failed]. I'll take responsibility again and we needed partnerships going but could not. It was a gettable target but top order couldn't do it," Bailey said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
He feels there is still time left for a comeback. Bailey, who is hopeful of a turnaround, feels that his bowlers have done a good job so far and did extremely well to restrict David Warner-led SRH to just 150 runs. They were the runners of the last season and now a place in the Playoffs in this edition looks like a distant dream. They really need to excel in all the departments in order to turn their fortunes around, feels their disappointed skipper.
"The bowling was good to restrict them to 150. We are just trying to get a combination that works. I think no team are trying any harder than last year and we are not trying any lesser. Sandeep Sharma and Anureet Singh have been performing for us at the start as well as the death which is good to see," Bailey said.
