Ahmedabad, April 3 (IANS): Punjab Kings (PBKS) are all set to take on Gujarat Giants (GT) in their fourth game in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
A day before the thrilling encounter, Punjab Kings assistant bowling coach Trevor Gonsalves gave insights on the pitch for Thursday's match, praised the balance of the team and detailed some of the areas the team is working on to make further improvements.
"At present, we have a much-balanced side as compared to before. The balance between the experienced players with the young blood that has come in has already helped. Losing wickets in bunches and going for runs in the death overs are some of the areas that we are working on with the head coach and the director," he said at the pre-match press conference in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
Gonsalves further backed his side's bowling unit to make a comeback in the coming matches. "We are not concerned. Both Harshal and Rahul Chahar, and even Sam Curran are all world-class players. They have gone through similar situations a lot of times in the past where they have been hit for runs and yet they have come back strongly. It is just the start. As the tournament progresses, you will see these guys get better with each game," he said.
Gonsalves addressed batsman Liam Livingstone's injury and gave a status on his possible inclusion in the upcoming match. Livingstone suffered an injury while fielding against Lucknow Super Giants last week, and was taken off the field. He was also pushed down the batting order, which proved costly for the Kings in a steep run chase.
"Livingstone is in much better shape as compared to how he was a couple of days ago. We will be taking a call on his inclusion in the playing XI tomorrow. The physios are working with him," Gonsalves said.
He signed off with an assessment of the surface in Ahmedabad for Thursday's game. "This seems like a good batting track. You will see a lot of runs being scored here," he said.
Punjab Kings will take on Gujarat Titans on Thursday at Narendra Modi Stadium.