Key Points

Vaibhav has slowly shaped himself as skipper Ajinkya Rahane's go-to bowler with his clinical and tenacious spells in the death overs. He has started to unfurl into a specialist with his recent performances. Vaibhav scythed a scalp each for the defending champions in the last two fixtures while trying to keep a lid on the opposition's scoring rate.

During Kolkata's fixture against Punjab Kings on Saturday, Vaibhav was handed the responsibility of bowling the penultimate over, and he embraced the opportunity with open arms. He conceded just nine runs, and with his slower-ball leg-cutter, he lured the dangerous Marco Jansen to hole it straight to vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer at long-on.

"I am working with DJ sir and Bharat Arun sir on death bowling during the practice sessions, and I am getting the result for it," Vaibhav told reporters at the post-match press conference.

Despite a drop in the run rate towards the end, Punjab managed to stroll to 201/5, setting a daunting task for Kolkata to chase down. Before Kolkata could fathom a formula for success, rain pelted down heavily at Eden Gardens, forcing the fixture to be washed away.

Vaibhav decided to dwell on the positives and remained hopeful that the one point could play a role in their attempts to defend their crown, and added, "Unfortunately, the match didn't take place; it is better to take one point than nothing. There might be a scenario where we could qualify with one point. We will take it in a positive way."

Kolkata occupy the seventh spot with seven points, still four away from toppling Punjab out of the fourth spot. Their woes have come down to the shambolic batting display, with Rahane being the sole warrior.

The 27-year-old addressed the lacklustre performances with the bat and vowed that his side would make efforts to refine it in the remaining fixtures, and added, "We are bowling well, but we are lacking in batting. We will try to bowl well and improve our batting."

- ANI