Punjab Kings Head Coach Sanjay Bangar Has Made Revelations About The Sudden Departure Of The English Players

Punjab Kings Head Coach Sanjay Bangar has thrown some light on the challenges the team went through in the last few games, predominantly due to the sudden departure of the English contingent for national duty in the last legs of IPL 2024.

In a Press Conference after their last league game against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad, Bangar revealed that the England Cricket Board(ECB) had promised initially that the English players would be available for the entire tournament, but due to changes made in the schedule forced the England board to think otherwise.

What Did Sanjay Bangar Say?

Bangar in his statement said that

The ECB had given the assurance that the English Players would be available, however, once the schedule got a little bit extended the ECB had to call back its players, due to multiple reasons too their campaign was poor, everybody in the tournament was in the same position but they lost their key English Players.

With Players like Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Will Jacks, Phil Salt, and Jos Buttler leaving early to play in the series against Pakistan commencing on May 22, due to this sudden departure, the teams were forced to make changes to their match-winning combinations, especially teams like Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru who are playing in the playoffs.

With Sam Curran's departure it was a big jolt to Punjab as they not only lost a bowler but also a reliable batter and most importantly the leader of the pack, Sam Curran had stepped in as the captain of the team after the regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan got injured and ruled out of the season eventually.

Once Sam Curran left young keeper batter Jitesh Sharma stepped in as the captain for the Punjab Kings in their last league game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Punjab chose to bat first in overcast conditions and posted a good total of 214, however, the bowling lacked the penetration and experience as the total was easily chased down by Sunrisers Hyderabad with 5 deliveries to spare.

Bangar also highlighted that losing a key contingent was a big blow to their campaign but not the sole reason for displaying a poor performance.

Bangar further stated that:

Losing Liam Livingstone to a knee issue then ECB pulling him out, and Losing Kagiso Rabada to a soft tissue infection, chipped in together to ensure they were short on international experience in the last few games he explained

The Departure of these England players hampered many teams in the tournament in the season, not only Punjab Kings but many other sides had to do last-minute edits to their side due to this sudden withdrawal.