IPL 2019, DC vs KXIP: Visitors Punjab well-prepared for 'consistently slow' Kotla pitch, says coach Mike Hesson

New Delhi: The Feroz Shah Kotla pitch here has been a subject of debate this IPL season and Kings XI Punjab coach Mike Hesson Friday termed it “consistently slow”, saying they will prepare accordingly. In four outings, Delhi Capitals have lost three matches at Kotla, the last coming against Mumbai Indians on Thursday night. The home batsmen have found the tracks far from friendly, and after one of the matches, coach Ricky Ponting called it the worst. [caption id=“attachment_3412382” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. Getty Images[/caption] On the eve of their game against Delhi Capitals, KXIP coach Hesson said, “Look, the surface here, although we can’t guarantee how the pitch is going to be, most of the games have been consistent in terms of how they have been on the slower side. “We will prepare accordingly, obviously we haven’t watched the game the other night. We can’t guarantee if the pitch is going to be same but the characteristic is probably going to be similar,” said Hesson. The 44-year-old said he had no issues with most of this edition’s matches finishing past midnight with teams looking to slow down the game. “I think when the game comes down to the wire… If you have really invested three and a half hours, an extra 15 minutes is probably not going to make a lot of difference to your life. “Generally the games that go the distance are the ones that are very close at the back end. “If it’s used as a tactic then it’s a different story. I think what a lot of sides do is they often go quickly in the first half, so that it gives them more time towards the end. I think there is a lot of pressure, a lot on the line, and a lot to think about,” Hesson said. The mid-table visitors are plagued by injuries to their mainline spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Varun Chakravarthy, as well as Moises Henriques. The former New Zealand coach said it will be a big loss if they are not able to play on Saturday. “Mujeeb has made good progress, he is certainly not in as much pain as he was a couple of nights ago. So, he would like to train today and we will make a decision after that. “Moises Henriques injured himself after being named in the side couple of days ago, his injury is going to roll now for a period of time, that’s unfortunate and obviously Varun is out for a long time as well with the injury. We are hoping that everybody will be able to make contributions in the rest of the IPL. “For us, it’s our ability to adapt to conditions, we have done ok away from home, we have actually been in lot of those games till the last ball. We just could not cross the line.” Hesson added, “We have also got Murugan Aswhin who has come in and filled the void.” Asked about the first-leg in which Delhi Capitals suffered a dramatic collapse to lose after being in a position of strength, he said the lesson from that is “you are never out of it”. “It does provide a bit of confidence when you are in the field, to hang in there. That was a big one for us.” For all the latest news, opinions and analysis from IPL 2019, click here For the full schedule, date, time and venue of all the matches of IPL 12, click here Check out the full points table for IPL 2019, including holders of Orange and Purple Caps