Punjab Kings (PBKS) fast bowling coach James Hopes has said that they are wary of Kolkata Knight Riders' spin threat ahead of their fixture but have enough strength in their batting order to counter it. PBKS will take on KKR on Tuesday, April 15 in Chandigarh.
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00:00Yeah, well, touching on the last game, that was a bit disappointing for us.
00:05We knew going into it was going to be an extremely high-scoring game.
00:07We knew the wicket that we were playing on there in particular
00:10is normally very high-scoring, like 240-plus most games.
00:15We knew we got a score on the board, and then unfortunately
00:17our ability to not catch for a night, that just disappeared on us.
00:24And the injury to Lockie, obviously, that hurt us a fair bit.
00:30Yeah, we've only played a couple of games here,
00:34and we feel we're getting a pretty good handle on the conditions
00:37with a couple of practice matches and the last two games here.
00:41We're obviously going to have to change our team up a bit with Ferguson
00:44not being able to play.
00:47So we'll have a good look at the wicket tonight,
00:49and we'll see which way we're going to go there,
00:50whether we have to change up our spin attack a little bit
00:53or change our fast bowling attack, which we're going to have to do.
01:00How difficult it is for as a coach to start a confidence
01:04back and looking after the matches?
01:07And also, to add to that, you know,
01:10games have only won three matches out of three matches.
01:15It's fine.
01:16I think, like, this being my first year at the franchise,
01:22we're one-on-one here.
01:23We've had a game where we didn't bat the best,
01:27and we've had a game that we won, I think,
01:29pretty comfortably in the end against Chennai.
01:32To instill confidence in the boys, like, it's...
01:35In this tournament, like, you go to venues,
01:37and, like, we went to Hyderabad.
01:39We knew what we were going to get.
01:40We knew it was going to be a 250 game, like, both sides.
01:45And you play to that.
01:47You try not to let the guys go,
01:48oh, I went at 12 and over, I went at this.
01:49No, that's the venue you're playing on.
01:51And if you go up 10 and over, you're a genius.
01:53So, like, the confidence we take from that is
01:55someone like Ashti bowled unbelievably in the last game.
01:59I think he bowled four overs for 37.
02:01And on that venue, for the fast bowlers in that game,
02:05that was outstanding.
02:07So we got a lot of confidence with that.
02:09We're going to have to bring someone in for Lockie,
02:11so we're going to have to change our bowling attack slightly.
02:14The guys don't lack confidence.
02:16We're sitting at 3 and 2.
02:17We're in a good spot in the competition.
02:19where we've got a big week coming up
02:21against the same two opposition, KKR and RCB.
02:26That's just the way the draws work for us.
02:27We've got them for the next four games.
02:29So if we can have a good week,
02:31we're going to be well-placed going into the back half.
02:35Coach, KKR is very heavy-spent bowling attack.
02:38They have a pretty good bowling-plus winner.
02:41And we also have a music channel like that.
02:44Like a similar kind of attention bowling.
02:46So what do you think of the bowling points of the KKR and the arts?
02:52Is there any change?
02:54No, just that once again, you're starting to see all the different teams.
03:00They've got their little identity coming out now.
03:02And we know that with KKR, their bowling attack is spin-heavy.
03:06So how do we counter that?
03:07We have a lot of players in our middle order that are very good players to spin.
03:10So that becomes the match-up that we have to win tomorrow night.
03:15And with our bowling attack, we need to get Yeozy into the game more than we're doing.
03:20Like, he's just struggling to get into the game at the moment.
03:26Like against Chennai, just bowling the one over, a very good over at a very important time.
03:29He bowled a very good over.
03:30But it's just getting him into the tournament.
03:32We're five games in.
03:33And for us to win the IPL, we're going to need him.
03:36So we have a month and a half now to try and get him into the tournament proper.
03:43Hello, where does this come from?
03:44Over here.
03:45Yeah.
03:46Chennai have conceded in excess of 204 times over the time.
03:51Now, as a bowling coach, does your task become more challenging in order to deal with this kind of situation?
03:57So it's not often that you see 100 be conceded, but it's the long of the season.
04:02No, not really.
04:03I think we've played on one pitch that I would consider was in the favour of the bowlers.
04:09And that was in Lucknow.
04:13And we kept the team to 170 or 175.
04:16And then our batsmen went out and got it in 16 overs.
04:21So it's like, for us, you've got to go game to game, game to game.
04:25And at the moment, we're playing on buckets where 200, 220, 240 at SRH is a normal score.
04:31So don't look at the overall.
04:33Once we get to places that are a little bit more helpful for the bowlers, unfortunately, that may not happen in the next week.
04:39But we might get to Dharmashal or we might get to Chennai where we're going to have a little bit more help for the bowlers.
04:45And, yeah, we'll see those scores come down.
04:48But, yes, we've conceded four 200-plus scores, but we are sitting three and two.
04:54So all we've got to do is concede less than the other team.
04:57Ferguson's out indefinitely, I would have thought.
05:12And us getting him back by the end of the tournament is a very low percentage, I would have thought.
05:19I think he's done a real decent injury to himself.
05:21Yeah, it's not just the last match that I'm a little bit concerned about.
05:32Like, I think we've dropped 12 catches for the tournament now.
05:37Yeah, but that's fine.
05:39We dropped catches there, but we've also dropped 12 for the tournament, which is a bit more of a concern on our front.
05:44But if we take care of our catches, I could be sitting here with, like, us having a 4-1 record.
05:51But we can't do anything other than keep the boys working on it, keep the boys trying to be better in the field.
05:58And they try.
06:00And drop catches, like, happen, and they're happening a bit to us in the last few games.
06:04If that turns a little bit and our boys start holding on to them, start getting a couple of half chances,
06:10well, hopefully we're on the right side of the ledger going forward.
06:12Last few questions.
06:14None of the ballers have gone below 9.
06:18Talk about Ashish.
06:20Jahal has gone 11.13.
06:23He has scored in 5 games.
06:25Only to show 2 games.
06:28So...
06:28Are you concerned?
06:29Yeah, yeah.
06:30Of course it's a concern.
06:31But once again, we tend not to look at, like, he's going at 9.5.
06:36He's going at 10 because we're playing games where 200 is a score or 220 is a score or 240 is a score.
06:43If we keep playing games where 230 is a score and our guys keep going at 10 and over, well, we're going to win most games.
06:49So that's how we tend to look at it.
06:51And I think I answered in the question before, we need to get Yuzi into the tournament a little bit.
06:56Like, he's being used in a lot of different roles at a lot of different times at the moment.
07:01And we're very pace-heavy at the moment.
07:03I think we need to find a way to get more spin into our bowling attack.
07:08And, like, hopefully we see that over the next few games.
07:10Last question.
07:40Like, I'm not going to sit here and say, oh, we're going to go five matches now conceding less than 200.
07:45Because if we're playing on the pitches where we might go to Bangalore and that's a 230 wicket, that's got the potential to be that there.
07:51And, like, all we've got to do is keep a team 200.
07:54So, like, I'm not going to sit here and say, we've got to be under 200, we've got to be under 200.
07:57Like, no, we have to actually just bowl to the conditions that are going to win us the game on that day.
08:04In the last game, we didn't quite do that.
08:07And you couple that with drop catches and an injury, and that results in the loss.
08:11Last question.
08:13Coach, I just want to ask about it.
08:14I should be, like, he's a quality bowler.
08:17He's a world-class bowler.
08:19So how do you work with him?
08:21Like, what kind of strategies have you guys done?
08:24And at least what do you think you're working on?
08:26Well, for starters, I'm really enjoying it.
08:29I really like working with him, and you're correct.
08:31He is a world-class bowler.
08:32And I think if you look at his numbers across this tournament, what he's done in games, like, the way, like, his economy rate in the power play, I think, is in the eights.
08:41His economy rate at the death, he's keeping in check in comparison to what the game requires.
08:47The only thing that's missing from Arsh at the moment is, like, the bag full of wickets that he can sometimes get.
08:52And I actually can't sit here and say he's not creating chances either.
08:56I think last game against Chennai here, he had two pretty basic catches dropped off his bowling.
09:01So if those things start going, like, his way, you're going to see the wickets start keeping up.
09:05And, like, he is a very, very good flat wicket bowler, which is what we need right now.
09:11And I'm excited for the day where he gets something with just a little bit of seam movement in it.
09:15We saw it in Lucknow.
09:16We saw the damage that he can do up top.
09:19Just get a couple more wickets like that for him, it'd be nice.
09:22Thank you, guys.