"It could be a bitter one to swallow but it's fine" - Mayank Agarwal comes in defence of Odean Smith after last-ball defeat to GT in IPL 2022 

Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Mayank Agarwal defended Odean Smith following a heartbreaking loss to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022. PBKS endured a last-ball defeat at the hands of Rahul Tewatia, who struck two consecutive sixes off Smith to seal the win.

Defending 190, PBKS struggled to stay in the game following a 101 run partnership between Shubman Gill and debutant Sai Sudarshan for the second wicket. Stellar death bowling by Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada pulled the franchise back into the game. Smith had 19 runs to defend in the last over, and was guilty of putting Tewatia back on strike with a reckless throw.

Claiming that the team will continue to back the Caribbean all-rounder despite the final over mishap, Agarwal said during the post-match presentation:

"It's just a game of cricket - it could be a bitter one to swallow but it's fine. The talk in the dressing room is that we are going to back the players even if someone has an off day."

Praising the efforts of Singh and Rabada for pulling things back in the death overs, Agarwal said:

"It was great execution by both of them - fantastic effort by them to pull is back into the game. In the last over obviously it could have been anybody's game. We totally back Odean - it could have gone either way but it's fine, we back him 100 percent."

GT were on course to chase the score comfortably on the back of the platform set by Gill and Sudarshan. However, the pressure was back on the chasing side following a tight 18th over by Singh, who only gave away five runs.

"I thought we were 5-7 runs short" - Mayank Agarwal

Earlier in the contest, PBKS endured a tough powerplay on the back of GT's imperious pace bowling unit. Liam Livingstone's fifty and a series of cameos by Jitesh Sharma and Rahul Chahar helped the side post a 190-run target for GT.

Agarwal praised the efforts of Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Singh with the bat, who shared a 27-run partnership for the final wicket. The PBKS captain said:

"We did really well to get ourselves to that score after losing so many wickets so we were really happy with that and I'm really happy with how we fought on the field."

Noting that the side have plenty of positives to take from this loss, Agarwal said:

"It was a tough game but I think we really fought hard. I thought we were 5-7 runs short. We really pulled it back after the start they had. It was a game with positives for us."

PBKS will next take on the Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 13 (Wednesday) at the MCA Stadium in Pune.