Wasn’t an easy wicket, conditions make big difference, says Patel

It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, said Gujarat Titans assistant coach Parthiv Patel, citing the challenging pitch as the primary reason for his team’s three-wicket loss to Punjab Kings in their IPL opener.

Punjab Kings chased a 163-run target with five balls to spare on Tuesday.

“As a team you want them to fight. I am happy that we took the game to the last over,” Patel said in the post-match press conference.

“It wasn’t the easiest wicket to bat on. It’s been raining here for the last three-four days and the groundsmen did a really good job to prepare the wicket.

Once the ball was old, it was reversing a bit, it was also holding up a bit. After power play, batting was not easy,” he explained.

However, Patel also stated that the difficult pitch does not take away credit from the effort of Punjab’s bowlers.

“As I said, the Punjab bowlers, the way they bowled in the final overs, they bowled cleverly towards the end,” Patel said.