IPL 2020: KL Rahul hails Anil Kumble after KXIP register their 4th consecutive win
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper KL Rahul hailed head coach Anil Kumble to make his side mentally stronger after KXIP registered their fourth successive victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Saturday.
Having registered five straight losses, KXIP's IPL 2020 campaign looked in danger. However, the Rahul-led side has turned tables around in the last few matches.
Batting first in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, KXIP posted 126 for 7 in 20 overs. Courtesy of excellent death bowling by Arshdeep Singh and Player of the Match Chris Jordan, KXIP defeated SRH by 12 runs. It was also the lowest total successfully defended by a team in the ongoing edition of the league.
Speaking at the post-match presentation in Dubai, Rahul said, "Yes, we are making it a habit. In the first half, we somehow couldn't make this a habit. I am just speechless right now, to be honest. Very happy with the show from the boys. The work done is always behind the scenes, not just the players, but the support staff. You can't change much in a player in two months but you can always make them mentally better and that's what coach Kumble, Andy, Charl, Jonty, and Wasim have done. After Mandeep and I played the first over we know it's not a high scoring wicket. We were thinking of close to 160. They went hard in the first six.
But I knew we could pull things back if we don't leak many runs in the powerplay as we have two leggies. We sat down and thought about the things that the bowlers would need in conditions like these and it's good to see the work paying off."
With five wins in 11 matches now, KXIP have climbed to fifth place in the IPL 2020 points table. Their IPL 2020 campaign is very much alive with three group matches remaining for them. Meanwhile, SRH are in the fifth spot with four wins in 11 games.