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Following Punjab Kings’ demolition of the record books with eight balls remaining, skipper Sam Curran wondered if cricket was becoming a completely different game.
“Cricket is turning into baseball, isn’t it? It was absolutely incredible,” Curran mused at the post-match presentation. “Where do we [start]? Absolutely delighted with two points. Games like that are out of the world, but most importantly we’ve had a tough few weeks as a team [this was Kings’ first win in five games] but we’ve really hung in there. We’ve taken teams down to the wire and, I think, forget about the scores… I thought we actually deserved victory.”
Because of the manner that hitters have elevated the bar for their hitting, reaching 300 runs has been more and more likely at various times this season. This season has produced seven of the top eight IPL totals; PBKS, with their record chase at Eden Gardens, comes in at number six. The contest on Friday also yielded the most sixes (42) in a Twenty20 game. It exceeded the 38 hits scored by Royal Challengers Bengaluru and SRH in Bengaluru last week, as well as by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad last month. Curran attempted to interpret the chaos.
“Yeah, I think loads of different things [have added up to this],” Curran said. “I think the way guys train is obviously huge and they can hit balls for a long period of time. I guess it’s the confidence, coaches and the way we’ve been training. Let’s be honest – small grounds with a bit of dew and the ball [gets wet] and sometimes you get a wide call. You think you’ve got a dot ball, you review it and then it’s wide. Then an extra ball. So, yeah, not saying it’s a batsman’s game but it’s showing… I’m sure everyone wants to keep seeing sixes. I think stats is definitely going out of the window. It’s all about winning those small moments.”
Curran was also pleased with how destroyer-in-chief on the night Jonny Bairstow bounced back after a string of low scores, which had resulted in him being dropped from the team.
“Really pleased for Jonny. He’s obviously been on tour for a really long time,” Curran said. “A couple of games out of the side, he looked like he came back really eager to score runs for the team and showed what an amazing player that he is. So, I’m really pleased for him.”