We will bounce back: Marsh

KXIP batsman reflects on his team’s loss against RR

Chasing a mammoth 192, thanks to Ajinkya Rahane’s 98, the Kings XI Punjab were done in by debutant Kevon Cooper who bowled and fielded brilliantly. Although the visitors’ the batting line-up can take on any attack, they lost crucial wickets early in the innings, which led to their defeat against the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here.

Shaun Marsh, who is an important cog in the KXIP batting line-up, spoke to iplt20.com in a post-match interview.

Excerpts of his chat with iplt20.com:

On KXIP opting to bat first, and whether they were confident of their batting

Yes, definitely we were very confident of chasing. We just didn’t execute very well with our batting and bowling. But it was only the first game of the competition, so [there is] plenty of work to do and improve before our next game. But the confidence is still high I think.

On his form and coming back from injury

I am feeling pretty good. If I keep doing the right things, things will turn around. I played some decent innings in domestic season before coming here, so I am confident that I will have a good IPL [season].

On chasing 192 runs

Definitely, we were confident we could chase 192 with the batting line-up [...].

On how the match slipped away from KXIP

We lost a few wickets too early and [Ajinkya] Rahane [batted well]. [...] If we played the way we can, [we could] still make it.

On the track

It is a nice track. It was a beautiful track tonight, and hopefully, they can continue like that.

On Ajinkya Rahane’s innings

He played very well. He is a very good player and it showed in that knock.

On the tournament ahead

We played well but we had a disappointing night tonight. But we will bounce back.