We just need middle order upfront to get more runs, says PBKS bowling coach Charl Langeveldt

PBKS bowling coach Charl Langeveldt spoke about the lack of contribution from PBKS batters in the match against GT. It has been a trend at this point. The PBKS batters barring Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma have been inconsistent. It was a similar story for PBKS against GT. Despite the good opening stand, PBKS collapsed to a low total. If not for the lower-order hitting from Harpreet Brar, things would have gotten worse for the home side.

Speaking about the match in the press conference, Lengeveldt said that the players and staff members were as hurt by the performance as the fans. The coach felt that the bowlers were brilliant as usual and the top-order batters gave a good start. Langeveldt added that the middle order failed to step up.

"Disappointing. Players are hurt as well as the staff and the fans. We showed a lot of character with the ball. We had a good powerplay with the bat for the first time in three games but in the middle period, their spinners were too quality for our batters and we struggled," said Langeveldt as quoted by India Today.

The former South African cricketer claimed that GT spinners were too good and PBKS batters had no answers to them. The PBKS bowling coach added that they were short of about 20 runs on a wicket like Mullanpur. He asked the middle order to step up for the upcoming games. "We just need middle order upfront to get more runs. We were probably 20 runs short on that wicket," added the PBKS bowling coach.

Charl opened up on the move to get Harpreet Bhatia as the impact substitute over someone like Rahul Chahar. The PBKS bowling coach felt that adding a bit of runs lower down the order was handy. "It was the idea, we could have another spinner [Rahul] Chahar to play in but obviously when you're batting and you've had a collapse like that, it's better to get the runs on board," Langeveldt felt. 

Hopefully, our batters will come good for us: Charl Lengeveldt

While he accepted the need to bat better, Lengeveldt felt that the good batting surfaces in the upcoming games could boost the morale of the batters. He added that PBKS takes every contest as a knockout game. "That's something we want to improve, get more runs on the board. We are gonna travel now and we are gonna play on better batting wickets and that would give the batters a bit more confidence going into the last few games. We take every game like a semi-final, final but yeah, it's one of those things," added Langeveldt.

The bowling coach felt that the batters would be happy considering their next match to be in Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Langeveldt hoped bowlers to deliver a good performance like they have done so far and batters to step up. "The batters are definitely going to be happy about the next venue [Eden Gardens, Kolkata]. The bowlers need to step up as well when we play at different venues, higher scoring grounds. Hopefully our batters will come good for us," he added.