After two matches of the tenth season of the Indian Premier League, the Kings XI Punjab could do no wrong.
Coming in on the back of a bitterly disappointing campaign, which saw them finish at the bottom of the table, the side went full throttle in the auctions. It seemed to be paying off: Big guns such as Glenn Maxwell and Hashim Amla were in sublime touch, and the bowlers were doing a neat job.
A pounding at the hands of pace-setters Kolkata Knight Riders in Eden Gardens cut them open, and the side has struggled ever since. And now, it was the turn of the Sunrisers Hyderabad to dominate them.
After a couple of destructive knocks at the start of the tournament, Maxwell’s form has tapered off. However, batting remains the high point in a disappointing campaign thus far, where they have failed to match up to the heights of 2014.
Combinations
Bring a group of people, who have never played cricket together and the manner in which they gel can go a long way in laying the building blocks of a winning unit. It started with Chennai Super Kings and in recent years, Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Sunrisers Hyderabad have all managed to forge a winning team. It is the template that all these teams have used.
Anything less than a place in the qualifiers would qualify as a disappointing campaign for these sides. The role of good fortune cannot be ruled out. Over the last two years, almost every gamble of SRH has paid rich dividends.
The only consolation that Punjab have from recent games is that their top order has more settled look to it, and they can bank on Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra and Shaun Marsh to set the tone for a good score.
The imbalance in Punjab’s side stems from their middle and lower order, which has failed to step up when required. Wriddhiman Saha is woefully out of touch (69 from 8 games) and has failed to register even a single good knock of note. Punjab may also be missing a trick in using up their entire quota of foreign players on their batting. With the bowlers clubbed across the park with such disdain, they should have a look at including New Zealand pacer Matt Henry to shake things up.
Bowlers’ steep fall
At the end of Punjab’s second game in the tournament, they had conceded the least amount of runs in the powerplay overs among all teams. Sandeep Sharma was giving his side solid starts with his cunning medium-pacers and the rest of the pack passed muster.
KKR’s onslaught brought them back to reality. Sandeep Sharma has lost his rhythm and his discipline along with it. After an unusually steady start, Varun Aaron started to leak runs aplenty in recent games. Ishant Sharma’s capitulation to the bowler he was last season (Economy rate of 9.86) could perhaps be better explained by the battering he received against Kane Williamson in the final overs. It was a huge backward step for the lanky pacer, who had redeemed himself with the red ball in his hand in the Border-Gavaskar series last month.
Mohit Sharma, Aaron and Axar Patel too, have a fair bit of international experience under their belt. The failure of Punjab’s bowlers also shows that India’s second choice pace attack is simply nowhere close to being a competent one.
Mumbai, Delhi Daredevils, KKR, and now SRH feasted on the Punjab bowlers, having rattled along at nearly 10 runs an over during their respective games. Given the start-stop nature of their performances, the recent spankings may have derailed their confidence altogether.
The road ahead
There’s everything to play for in a bid for a place in the qualifiers with six matches to go. Late flourishes, though, depend on a combination of the big guns in the team stepping up along with finding a clear identity. Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore successfully managed to find that balance last season as they managed to make a fine late surge and enter the final.
The loss to SRH came in what was their first game in five days. So much for the tournament’s fixture congestion affecting the players. Now, they find themselves facing the Daredevils in a couple of days. It also remains to be seen how much the side can correct their poor record at Mohali.
Much like coach Virender Sehwag’s batting, this side can dazzle when on song. Putting one’s money on Punjab sneaking through to the qualifiers would be like expecting the swashbuckling former India batsman to leave a delivery alone.
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