Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson said the Jos Buttler ‘Mankading’ incident did not affect his team in the Kolkata Knight Riders match, which the visitors ‘lost’ due to a no-ball in the 17th over.
Looking back at the 28-run defeat on Wednesday, Hesson said captain R. Ashwin running out Buttler, which invited criticism, in the previous match did not affect his side.
Very focused
“We were very focused quickly afterwards, in terms of preparing for KKR. So that has very much been our focus,” said Hesson.
However, he admitted that lack of alertness led to a violation of field restrictions, resulting in the ball with which Mohammed Shami had dismissed Andre Russell being declared a ‘no-ball’.
“We had a plan for Russell that we executed well but were not quite alert enough in the field.
“That’s where the game changed. It’s a fine line when you are bowling to Russell. He’s a game-changer.
“We had that little bit of jubilation and then things turned pretty quickly.
“We were not quite able to turn the last few overs for 12 or 14 runs.
“Instead, we ended up giving away 22 or 25 runs, and it probably changed the game.”
Defends Varun’s inclusion
Hesson defended the inclusion of debutant spinner Varun Chakaravarthy, who turned out to be expensive. “He was nervous like anyone else playing his first game. The way he came back in the second and third overs was excellent.”
KKR batsman Nitish Rana, who scored his second consecutive half-century, agreed that Russell’s ‘life’ had boosted his team’s total.
“It wasn’t very easy [to chase] because the ball started seaming in the second innings. Even 200 would have been defendable. Russell’s lifeline probably gave us those 20-25 extra runs,” said Rana.
