'A poor all-round performance' - Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist, the Kings XI Punjab captain, has described his team's seven-wicket defeat at the hands of Pune Warriors, making their first IPL appearance, as a "poor all-round performance." Gilchrist fell in the first over of the day, after opting to bat, and if not for Ryan McLaren's fighting half-century, Punjab would have struggled to even reach triple-figures.

"It was a poor all-round performance. It started with me in the first over and that set the tone for the innings," Gilchrist said. Punjab didn't help themselves, dropping a couple of easy catches in Pune's chase. Both Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa, batsmen who took Pune home with some big hits, got a reprieve. "A couple of catches could have been taken and that would have left them at five for 70 odd. We just weren't good enough today," Gilchrist said.

Punjab, like several other teams, underwent a revamp after the IPL auctions and Gilchrist said it would take a little time for the team to settle down. "We felt comfortable enough coming in to this game, but we need to take little steps [towards improving]. We will go back and work on it, it's a long tournament and the only way is up.

"McLaren was outstanding, the bowlers did create some chances, picked up wickets and there were several players who hadn't played the IPL before so to be just involved in the experience, that is a positive in itself."

Yuvraj, meanwhile, said he enjoyed captaining Pune to a maiden win and claimed captaincy appeared a tougher job when he led Punjab. "The first two years that I captained Kings XI Punjab, I took a lot of pressure on myself and was getting distracted a lot in the field. This time I just thought I'll be calm and relaxed and that worked for me.

"It was a good toss to lose, we bowled wicket to wicket, back of a length and got the results."