Punjab Kings’ decision to send Josh Inglis ahead of captain Shreyas Iyer paid off handsomely as the batter took Mayank Yadav to the cleaners in the contest against LSG. The PBKS captain, who usually comes out to bat at number 3, decided to send the Australian in at that position instead. Later, PBKS coach Ricky Ponting revealed that it was Iyer who came up with that idea and that it took LSG by surprise.
Iyer gets better of Mayank with smart call
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Ponting dubbed Shreyas’ decision to send Inglis ahead as a smart move. He explained that the PBKS captain thought that the Aussie would be more effective on the surface in Dharamsala. Ponting noted that Inglis’ strengths was to play the pull shot and that was exactly what he did to counter Mayank Yadav who bowls short.
“It was actually a move that the captain came up with. He thought on that sort of pitch, against that bowling attack, that it would be the right thing to, if a wicket fell early, to send Inglis in. We felt that Mayank would bowl early on. If you look at the way he bowls, he generally bowls reasonably short. And that’s one of Inglis’ great strengths, as you saw tonight,” Ponting said.
Inglis wasted no time in taking apart the LSG bowlers on arriving to the middle. He scored a quickfire 30-run knock off just 14 deliveries, including four sixes and one four.
The PBKS coach explained that by sending in Inglis at number 3, it allowed the team to have powerhouses like Iyer, Shashank and Wadhera through the middle of the innings which was crucial for the side.
“So, yeah, I mean, it was probably a surprise call for LSG to see him [Inglis] go out [at No.3] and it paid off for us tonight,” Ponting added.
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