IPL 2020: Match 13: Kings XI Punjab Vs. Mumbai Indians

Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians are two teams that have lost Super Overs this season. Both the teams look good on paper but Kings XI has thinner bowling resources and is way too dependent on their opening partnership with both bat and ball. It’s under this pretext both these teams met at Abu Dhabi for their IPL clash yesterday.

Here are my 5 point highlights of the match.

1. Rohit Sharma

Since 2013 Rohit Sharma has been very consistent. That was the year when he was first asked to open for India and he has not looked back ever since. He starts slow but accelerates very quickly towards the end. Yesterday was no different. He scored 70 off 45 balls but his last 27 runs came off just 7 balls and he took a great liking to Jimmy Nisham ( was it due to the anger of the failure at the World Cup Semifinal?). Rohit was the only one in the top 4 who kept the scoreboard moving because Quinton De Kock, Surya Kumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan all failed to fire. When Rohit plays well – Mumbai Indian generally wins and it was no different yesterday.

2. The Mumbai finish

Mumbai Indians is one team that has a great middle and lower-middle order. Pollard and the Pandya brothers have got them over the line multiple times in the past. Even in the last match against RCB, it was Pollard at the end who helped Mumbai ensure a tie. Yesterday when Rohit holed out, the scoreboard read 124 in the 17th over. Out came Hardik Pandya and he along with Pollard scored 67 runs off the last 23 balls at over 15 runs per over. An average score became a winning score because of that finish. Though Pollard got the man of the match award because he scored a few runs more than Pandya but Hardik’s strike rate was close to 300 when the innings ended. It’s this grand finish which took Mumbai Indians to 191 – a score which was much in doubt in the middle stages.

3. Rahul the captain

As a leader you not only need to inspire your team towards excellence but you need to make the right decisions too. As a leader, it’s imperative that he or she makes the right decision always. There is nowhere to hide if the decision backfires because you are the one to blame. So in any facets of life – a leader should always weigh his options and then take the decision and then inspire the team to follow the path towards success. 

Many of my friends in the last few days were telling me that they see Rahul as a future captain of India. It can happen of course but I personally think Shubhman Gill is the one who is a ready-made leader, not Rahul.

Yesterday Rahul took a call on Cottrell and finished off his quota of 4 overs in the first half itself. Cottrell started very well yesterday. Took a wicket Maiden in the first over and went for just 17 runs in his first three overs. But the pasting he took at the hands of Rahul Tewatia in the last match where he went for 30 runs in an over at the death made Rahul bowl him out early. Add to this he kept one over of Gowtham which he had to bowl at the end. Off-spinner bowling to Pollard and Pandya in the final over is like dishing out freebies and what ensured was mayhem. 25 runs were scored in the final over including 4 sixes. The margin of victory was bigger than this but the decision to not keep one over of your best bowler for the end is not the right way to go about it.

Will an opener not in form won’t open in the next match? It’s simple – your best bowler should always bowl in the toughest situation – that’s his job and as a leader, one needs to give the confidence that he believes in his teammate to perform. 

Rahul failed big time in this matter yesterday and I think his batting in the second half of the match faltered because of it too.

4. Jasprit Bumrah

From the time Jasprit Bumrah became a regular in the Indian team he has improved by leaps and bounds. His overs are like insurance cover for Rohit Sharma when it comes to IPL. He generally doesn’t come into bowl straight away. He is kept as a weapon against tough situations. Yesterday Mayank Agarwal once again looked like to be in his elements. Kings XI was off to a pretty good start with both Pattinson and Boult going for runs. Whom does Rohit Sharma turn to? Of course, Jasprit Bumrah and he delivered right away by castling Mayank Agarwal and made a huge dent to the Kings XI chase. He came back again later to pick up the wicket of Jimmy Neesham and finished with 2/18 in his 4 overs. This Mumbai team remains the team to beat this IPL just because of the number of match-winners they have in their playing XI.

5. Rahul Chahar

India has always been blessed with a lot of talented spinners. So much talent that many good bowlers never got a chance to play for India. Think of Rajinder Goel – a legendary cricketer – the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy and he never got a chance to play for India. Thanks to IPL we get to see a lot of talent these days and almost every team has a leg spinner in their ranks. Rahul Chahar whose cousin Deepak Chahar plays for CSK is one of them. He has now become a regular in the Mumbai Indians team and yesterday he showed why. He bamboozled batsmen with his guile and flight. He can turn the ball both ways and generally doesn’t err in his length. Yesterday he first took out Rahul with a false stroke and then took the big wicket of Glenn Maxwell. His returns of 2/26 off his quota of 4 overs should give the team management a lot of satisfaction!

The bowler Rahul getting rid of the batsman Rahul must be the biggest turning point of the chase.

Kings XI Punjab needs to get their middle order sorted out. Sarfaraz Khan is way too talented to be wasted at number 8. It’s far better to make him play at number 4 and give him the responsibility. I was so looking forward to him performing well this season but it’s not happening yet. They also need to look at their bowling resources. Right now it’s a team of 4 or 5 players. One can’t win IPL in this manner. Your lesser-known players have to perform for you to win the tournament.

So what do you think are the changes that Kings XI Punjab needs to bring in?

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