Murali Vijay, who took over the Kings XI Punjab captaincy from David Miller on Saturday, was happy with the 'clinical performance' by his team against Gujarat Lions.
> Report: Axar four-for leads Kings XI Punjab to second win of the IPL season
"We have been missing out on the smaller aspects of the game in the previous matches; it was bound to come because we have quality players in the side. Captaincy is a management’s call. It’s just that the two of us (Vijay and Miller) had a chat and everything has been smooth."
Vijay had been part of the team that had struggled in the first six matches and only one of them had resulted in a win, against Rising Pune Supergiants. "One has to give credit to Axar (Patel) because of the pressure he was in the previous games. It was an incredible performance. To be honest, it was a team effort. We had a plan, the five-day break was really good for us. I thought everyone was clinical with his performance; especially Sandeep Sharma and Mohit Sharma were excellent and followed by Axar."
Bowler-friendly pitch
While the Lions assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak felt there was no change in the behaviour of the pitch from the previous three matches played here, Vijay said it was not a flat deck. "There was something for the bowlers, the ball was not coming onto the bat. It was on the slower side and this suited out style of bowlers, who bowled consistently."
Talking about the unorthodox action of left-arm spinner Shivik Kaushik, the Tamil Nadu and India opener said: "I did not understand the first three balls...I did not know what was happening. It was difficult to pick if it was going out or coming in. I had done my analysis before the game by seeing some of his bowling. Maybe I will be better equipped when I face him the next time. Definitely one has to read him off his hands. If one plays him a couple of times, one would be able to play him better."
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