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Dhawan rues batting collapse after loss to Punjab
Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Shikhar Dhawan was honest in his assessment after the team suffered a crushing 72-run defeat against Kings XI Punjab during their Super 8 match of the Indian Premier League 7 in Sharjah on Tuesday.
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"We dropped lots of catches, especially the Maxwell catch and after that he went on to score big (43-ball 95). The target (193) went very high and then we lost lots of wickets while chasing. It was a big batting failure," said a dejected Dhawan after his team was dismissed for 121 with four balls to spare.
"When you drop catches and all this stuff... of course, batsmen have bit of pressure. We need to work on our batting group and score more runs."
'I have got a simple gameplan'
Man of the Match, Maxwell, who scored 95, 89, 95 in his last three innings, said his game plan has always been a simple one.
"The wicket was a little different tonight. I was a bit lucky. Just try and keep certain areas to hit. I have got a simple gameplan, I am trying to target certain bowlers," he said.
"It will be nice to get there [to a hundred]. At least this time I did not get out when we were chasing. I want to score for the team."
Ecstatic with the win, Punjab skipper George Bailey said: "Nice to see us put a good total on the board and to have a good start from Viru and Pujara. Wicket was a little hard to score on but you would not know that from the way Maxwell was batting.
'Bala's comeback tonight was outstanding'
"We know it is not going to happen every time. There will be times when the other guys will have to step up.
"Bala's comeback tonight was outstanding. He worked hard at training. Really pleased with our bowling, not so with our fielding, but it is okay."
Lakshmipathy Balaji, who returned with a four wicket haul, said he had worked on his variations for this match.
"It was little slow, try to work on little bit variations. I tried to keep it simple. In this game you have
to adapt quickly, understand the wicket and change plans according to situation," he said.