Punjab Kings' Shashank-Ashutosh reveal what made their partnerships click in IPL

After his sides tworun loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad SRH in their IPL 2024 match Punjab Kings PBKS middleorder batter Shashank Singh lauded Ashutosh Sharma for taking the match to the very last ball and opened up on how match simulation sessions in preseason camp helped themDespite a valiant fightback from Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma after some early wickets PBKS fell two runs short of another IPL 2024 memorable win at the Mullanpur Stadium on TuesdaySRH has climbed up to fifth place with three wins and two losses giving them six points PBKS is in sixth place having won two and lost three matches giving them four pointsSpeaking at the postmatch press conference Shashank praised Ashutosh for his powerhitting and credited him with keeping the side in the hunt till the last minuteWe always play to win So we are upset whether we lose by 2 runs or 20 runs A loss is a loss But the way we took the game to the final ball we have to credit Ashutosh for his innings The way he came down and batted was brilliant Till the last ball we had faith and we were discussing in the middle that the chase was possible We kept telling each other that we would be able to do it But Unadkat managed to get that one ball that he needed to bowl to restrict usThe two batters scripted a partnership of 66 off 27 balls on the night once again showcasing their onfield camaraderie While Ashutosh remained unbeaten on 33 off 15 balls with three fours and two sixes Shashank finished on 46 not out in 25 balls with six fours and a sixThis came after their 43run partnership in 22 balls against the Gujarat Titans GT which helped them chase down 200 runs after PBKS was down at 1506 in 153 overs Shashank had become a hero for Punjab with his unbeaten 61 in 29 balls with five fours and four sixes and Ashutosh also played a solid knock of 31 in 17 balls with three fours and a sixAlso ReadIn the grip of IPL feverIn IPL 2024 so far Shashank has made 137 runs in five matches at an average of 13700 with a strike rate of over 195 His best score is 61 and has ended unbeaten four times Ashutosh a batter from Madhya Pradesh has scored 64 runs in two matches at an average of 6400 with a strike rate of 200Shashank revealed that the belief shown by the team management and coaching staff helped them gain confidence when asked about the secret behind their tremendous partnershipsWe did a lot of match simulations in the preseason Punjab Kings camp We bat in the middle overs so we were given a lot of scenarios We had to chase 6070 runs in 5 overs and we were able to do so a few times So we have faith and we both trust each other Even if we need 60 runs in the final 4 overs we feel confident we can get one big over and get the win The credit has to be given to the coaching staff support staff and management who have given us selfconfidence and beliefThe 32yearold further opened up on the learnings from the match and said he would discuss with coaches how he can continue to improve furtherIndividually I was able to middle the ball a lot in the game which has given me a lot of confidence But if we are unable to get the win then there is always scope for improvement So we have to discuss the same with coaches now on how we can ensure we get those crucial 23 runs or which bowlers in which situations I can target to do even better That is the learning for us Shashank saidSpeaking on his role for the team Shashank said that he has to finish off the games for the Punjab Kings and get the winIn the middle overs our task is to take the game deep to the last over and win the game for our side It is not possible every time But if we can spend time on the crease and adjust well to conditions then it improves our chances The more I can finish off games the more beneficial it will be for the team he signed offComing to the match PBKS opted to bowl first SRH was reduced to 1005 in 131 overs at one point A 50run partnership between Nitish Reddy 64 in 37 balls with four boundaries and five sixes and Abdul Samad 25 in 12 balls with five fours helped SRH push the score to 1829 in 20 oversArshdeep Singh 429 was the pick of the bowlers Harshal Patel 230 and Sam Curran 241 were also great with the ball Kagiso Rabada took a wicket for PBKSIn the runchase of 183 PBKS lost wickets frequently and were reduced to 1146 in 153 overs A remarkable fightback from Shashank Singh 46 in 25 balls with six fours and a six and Ashutosh Sharma 33 in 15 balls with three fours and two sixes almost sealed a win for Punjab but they fell short by two runsBhuvneshwar Kumar 232 was the pick of the bowlers for SRH Skipper Pat Cummins Jaydev Unadkat T Natrajan Nitish Reddy took a wicket each for SRHWith agency inputs