'It's not new for us to lose from winning position' - Arshdeep Singh after Punjab's heartbreaking loss to Gujarat

After a see-saw battle, Gujarat defeated Punjab by 6 wickets to continue their winning run. The match was evenly fought and the pendulum swung to and fro throughout the game. Batting first, Punjab lost a few early wickets before Liam Livingstone went berserk and threatened to take the game away. However, his wicket meant that Punjab were tottering at 158-8, with the danger of not playing their full quota of overs. However, a few lusty blows from Rahul Chahar helped them to 189, a total which was decent enough for Punjab bowlers.

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Gujarat started the chase positively and despite losing Matthew Wade, they were in a commanding position, mainly because of Shubman Gill (96). However, in the final few overs, Punjab bounced back as they choked Gujarat for runs. Arshdeep Singh was brilliant and gave nothing away. At one point Punjab needed 19 off the final over, and then 13 off 2 balls. Odean Smith had a brain-fade moment and gave a run through an overthrow, bringing the equation down to 12 off 2. Rahul Tewatia then hit two sixes off the final two balls to win the game.

Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh, who gave combined 11 runs in the 16th and 18th over was heartbroken after the loss. He said that Punjab has been losing matches from winning positions for the last three years and it's not something new.

“Paaji, the emotions have stabilized now because in the last two-three years with Punjab Kings or Kings XI Punjab there have been a lot of these exciting last-ball, last-over thrillers. So it was nothing special. Whatever the situation, we try to be stable, whether we win or lose we try to keep the team environment stable and enjoy our cricket,” Arshdeep said in the post-match interview

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Arshdeep also backed the decision to bowl the final over from Odean Smith. With all their A bowlers done, Mayank either had to use Smith or Livingstone. Arshdeep said the decision taken at that moment was absolutely correct.

Paaji, your question had ‘perhaps’ in it so ‘perhaps if I had bowled…’, ‘perhaps if I had not bowled…’ then anything could’ve happened. I guess the decision taken at that time was absolutely correct. We can’t judge that decision based on the result. We did what felt right in that moment,” Arshdeep added.