Young opener Prabhsimran Singh plays in a “high pressure” role and could be a very “dangerous” player once he finds consistency, feels Punjab Kings assistant coach Brad Haddin. The 22-year-old wicketkeeper-batter had smashed a brilliant 34-ball 60 against Rajasthan Royals but got out for successive ducks in the next two games. But Haddin backed the opener to come good in the upcoming games, saying his place is safe in the playing XI.
“We’ve seen against Rajasthan (Royals) he’s extremely talented. When he gets in, he’s got a lot of power and plays a lot of shots around the field and he can be a match winner,” Haddin said after his team’s six-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans on Thursday.
“So it’s just about him now understanding his tempo and his role. We’re going to back him into playing a style of game that we need in the first six overs and it’s going to be a high risk game. So you’re going to see some good and bad performances.” Asked if Punjab have enough options at the top of the order in case Prabhsimran continues to misfire, Haddin said: “Yeah, we’ve got a lot of options in our squad, but at the moment he’s role is safe up there at the top, to play really proactive game.
“We’ve seen in this tournament, if you give the guys a couple of extra games that they normally come good, they’re extremely talented players and he plays in a high pressure role, there in the first six overs, take the game on so we’re comfortable where he’s at.
“He would obviously like some more runs but you know the upside when he does get things right and find some consistency he would be a very dangerous player for some time.” Punjab were once again done in by their below-par batting as they could manage a modest 153 for 8 after being asked to take first strike. The bowlers took the game deep but eventually Gujarat overhauled the target with one ball to spare.
“I think today it was our batting, we probably left 20 to 30 runs out there in the end and that probably was the difference in result.
“In our last game I thought Hyderabad bowled well and this time it was probably our fault with the bat not capitalizing on a few guys that they got in and probably been a little bit more proactive to find those 20 and 30 runs.” Asked if strike-rate of the batters is an issue, Haddin said: “Yeah, obviously it is a huge part of this game. We’ve seen last game guys build momentum to the back end and you got to recognise different stages when to take the game on, when to take your medicine and get off strike and and work the ones and twos and then the boundaries normally followed from there.” Star all-rounder Liam Livingstone had joined the team on Thursday after arriving from England on Monday.
Asked for an update on him, Haddin said: “He just got off a flight, for the next couple of days, we will see where he’s at. He’s just come back from a long term injury so we just had opportunity to put some eyes on him over the last 24 hours. We’ll know a lot more coming in the next game.” Punjab will face Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday.
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