Kings XI Punjab have to get their act together: Ryan Harris

MOHALI: Kings XI Punjab bowling coach Ryan Harris had on Saturday sounded a word of caution after his side slumped to their fourth loss in eight outings as the Indian Premier League (IPL) heads towards the business end.
The Punjab team suffered their second consecutive loss in three days when they went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight wickets here on Saturday. The loss also brought an end to their seven-match unbeaten streak at the PCA IS Bindra Cricket Stadium here.
Placed fifth in the points table, the Ravichandran Ashwin-led side will need to pull up their socks if they are to qualify for the knockouts, which Harris pointed out.
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"Our batting has been really good, before today we had 300-run partnerships in a row, which for T-20 cricket is very unusual. So, we are batting very well” Harris said after the match.
“Disappointing thing for me is we bowled well in patches, we had a couple of really good games and then we saw game here today where plans that we made were a long way off. So, we have to get our act together as we can't afford to lose any more games...we have to make sure bowlers are executing and doing their job, they are world class bowlers," he added.
The former Aussie speedster felt his side was 15-20 runs short despite scoring 173/4, mainly built around Chris Gayle’s master class unbeaten 99 off 64 deliveries.
“Personally, I think we were 15-20 runs short after the kind of start we had. Obviously, the wicket slowed down later..we got ourselves into position where we should have been able to launch, but we either lost wickets.. RCB bowled pretty well in the middle overs," he said.
Gayle, whose knock was studded with five sixes and ten boundaries, anchored the innings as the team lost four wickets at regular intervals. From 66 without loss at the end of powerplay, KXIP found themselves tottering at 113/4 in 14 overs forcing even the swashbuckling player like Gayle to play a controlled innings.
"He tried to control through the middle, but we lost wickets during the middle, which doesn't help. He probably takes three overs and then gets to move on once he gets the pace of each bowler," Harris said while praising Gayle’s effort.
"Through the middle, we'd like him to keep going. But the way the spinners bowled and the wicket was holding up a bit, it was quite hard for him to do that. Losing wickets as consistently as we did he sort of had to be the man to bat through. If he is there in the last three or four overs, he can get 50-60 runs. I guess we'd like him to go harder a bit earlier but the role he played tonight was excellent. He deserved the hundred," he added.
KXIP will next take on Rajasthan Royals in their home ground here on Tuesday.