After suffering a seven-wicket loss against Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Punjab Kings stand-in skipper Mayank Agarwal said that he hopes of a quick return of KL Rahul into the side.
Earlier on Sunday, KL Rahul was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. The Punjab skipper had complained of severe abdomen pain on Saturday night and as a result, he was taken to the hospital for scans.
Shikhar Dhawan played a knock of 69 runs as Delhi Capitals defeated Punjab Kings by seven wickets here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. Along with Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw also played a quickfire knock of 39 runs. For Punjab Kings, Chris Jordon, Harpreet Brar, and Riley Meredith returned with one wicket each.
With this win, Delhi Capitals has moved to the first spot in the points table with 12 points from 8 games while Punjab Kings remain in sixth place with six points.
"KL Rahul is going for surgery and hopefully he should be back. Would've liked two points but I guess we were about 10 short on that wicket. And the kind of powerplay they had we really had to scrap and fight. One batsman has to bat through, that was my plan. It was my day, I took that responsibility. Unfortunately, we did not get too many in the middle overs, even though we finished well," Mayank told host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation.
"Would have loved two points more than anything else. But it is what it is. We have to shut this off, turn up the next game and do better. Managing the ups and downs is what captaincy's all about. Kudos to Harpreet who showed up for us today and last game as well, he also hit a crucial boundary. We need to keep at it and click as a team," he added.
Earlier, Mayank Agarwal played an unbeaten knock of 99 runs as Punjab Kings posted a score of 166/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Along with Agarwal, Dawid Malan also chipped in with a knock of 26 runs. For Delhi Capitals, Kagiso Rabada returned with three wickets.
Punjab Kings will next lock horns against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
( With inputs from ANI )
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