PBKS vs RCB IPL 2022: Odean Smith credits THIS movie for turnaround in Punjab Kings form

West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith emerged as the hero on his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for Punjab Kings against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the DY Patil Stadium on Sunday (March 27). Smith smashed an unbeaten 25 off eight balls as PBKS chased down 206 to win with one over to spare. 

PBKS along with RCB are the two teams who have never won the IPL title and will be hoping that the 2022 season will change this. Smith said that the PBKS team watched the motivational movie ‘14 peaks’ and they have achieved the ‘first peak’ with 13 more to go. 

‘14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible’ is a 2021 documentary film directed by Torquil Jones. The film follows Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja and his team as they attempt to climb all 14 eight-thousander peaks within a record time of under 7 months. 

“We were stressing on having a good start. It was all about belief that once we had a good start we had the power in the back end. I didn’t go so well with the bowling, have a few stuff to work on. But from batting, it was good since I helped my team to get home,” Player-of-the-match Smith said after the five-wicket win over RCB.  

“It was all about execution. My execution wasn't on point with the ball, that’s why it went haywire. Punjab Kings haven’t won a title yet, so its all about belief at the start of the competition. We watched a motivational movie – 14 peaks. This was the first peak, 13 more to go,” he added. 

Good night from #SaddaSquad to #SherSquad! #SaddaPunjab #IPL2022 #PunjabKings #PBKSvRCB pic.twitter.com/fhNUjcF1SM — Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) March 27, 2022

Punjab scored 208/5 in 19 overs in reply to RCB’s 205/2 in 20 overs. “Two points for us is very important. Good wicket. Very good wicket as both sides scored 200 plus. One or two balls held up but nothing apart from that. Credit to the way we finished,” said Punjab Kings captain Mayank Agarwal in the post-match presentation. 

Barring Rahul Chahar and Arshdeep Kaur all the bowlers of Punjab went for plenty with the ball as RCB scored 205 in 20 overs. “We took the right chances and am glad it came off. I think we gave them 15-20 more,” said Mayank Agarwal. 

Faf du Plessis’s 88-run knock off 57-balls and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 41 off 29 balls went on to set a massive target for Punjab but Mayank Agarwal led side chased down the target in 19 overs. “Virat and Faf took the game away from us but credit to our batters to chase this down. We trust our skills. It doesn’t come off, it doesn’t come off but we are not going to panic and make a scene out of it,” Mayank Agarwal added. 

(with ANI inputs)