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We will have to dramatically improve bowling

The rest of the weekend for us will now be crucial, writes Kumar Sangakkara

Every team has bad days and Kings XI Punjab had one on Tuesday night. Our performance against Rajasthan Royals was well below the standards we have set ourselves. We all know that and we are all bitterly disappointed. We have to learn from that and make sure we don’t play like that again.

We were also a little flat in the field. I thought we lacked energy. The hectic schedule caught up with us as we have been hurtling around the country playing games every other day.

However, we cannot use that as an excuse as it’s the same story for every team and we have to make sure it does not affect us.

Thursday’s game against Chennai Super Kings will provide the perfect chance for us to bounce back. However, Chennai have one of the most formidable batting line-ups in this competition and we will have to improve our bowling dramatically.

Key player

Fortunately, there were some positives from the loss against the Rajasthan. Yuvi’s innings showed that he is running into some fine form. He is a key player for us, a true match-winner. Having him bat well and looking so dangerous going into the second half of the tournament is a big plus for Kings XI.

The other positive was the return of Sreesanth from injury. His figures were nothing special but I thought he bowled pretty well given the fact that he has been out for some time. It was encouraging because having him in the side and bowling well will beef up the bowling at just the right time.

Like all bowlers, he will need some time to bowling in match conditions to get back to his peak. Scoring over 200 in these conditions in Durban was a huge score and credit goes to the Rajasthan Royals batsmen. I know the bowling unit was very disappointed afterwards and I’m very confident we will react positively against Chennai, lifting our game and playing with greater intensity, energy and discipline.

The rest of the weekend for us will now be crucial. We have two huge games coming up with Chennai on Thursday and Deccan Chargers in Kimberley on Saturday.

We are going to be tested but we need to respond well. Kimberley is known for its diamonds, and we need to produce a performance that rivals the local produce if we want to be in the last four.

Gameplan

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