Sanju’s century goes in vain as Punjab Kings win a last ball thriller

Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings played out a thrilling high scoring encounter last season in Sharjah. Both the teams have some big power hitters and hence it’s always expected of them to give us high-scoring encounters. Rajasthan Royals without the services of Jofra Archer looks weak on the bowling front and that’s a hole they won’t be able to plug this season. For Punjab Kings, they lack genuine all-rounders which exposes a long tail which in effect puts more pressure on their top order. Wankhede is a smallish ground and we were in for another high-scoring encounter. So let’s see the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

The Hits:

1. Last year’s orange cap holder, KL Rahul has had a pretty ordinary start to 2021 when he failed with the bat multiple times against England in the T20. He was finally dropped from the playing XI. He came back strongly in the ODIs though scoring a century. That series did a world of good for him as he started with positive intent yesterday. He took his time initially but grew in confidence in the latter part of the innings. When Rahul is in form batting looks so easy. His pick-up shots on the leg side are a treat to watch. He missed his century by a whisker being denied by a superb catch by Tewatia on the boundary ropes.

2. Deepak Hooda had a very unpleasant 2021 when he was removed from the Baroda side during the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament after having a tiff with Krunal Pandya. I guess that incident spurred him to do well this season of the IPL. He was sent up the order ahead of Nicholas Pooran and he took all the bowlers to the cleaners. Some of his shots were simply breathtaking though I must say, that Rajasthan Royals’ bowling was plain trash on most of the occasions. Royals did the mistake of having too many spinners for a small ground with a pitch that hardly gave any assistance to the bowlers. Honda’s innings of 64 runs of 28 balls made a huge difference in the final total.

3. Chetan Sakariya was a surprise choice to start for Rajasthan Royals. I expected Unadkat or Tyagi to get the nod ahead of him but he soon showed why he was selected by picking up Mayank Agarwal within the power plays. He came back strongly towards the end too picking up 2 wickets in the final over. In between, he pulled off a stunning catch to get rid of Nicholas Pooran. A great addition to the Royals set up and I hope he builds on from here because India needs a good left-arm pacer.

4. Riyan Parag makes shot-making look very easy. In the last 2 seasons, he had shown enough glimpse of his talent and I believe he is enough matured now to convert the good starts into big scores. For that to happen, he would need to bat a bit higher this season. Ideally, number 5 looks good for him. Yesterday he was sent at number 6 and in the space of a few deliveries he brought the momentum back for Rajasthan with some sweetly executed strokes.

5. Till now Sanju Samson has been an enigma in Indian cricket. When he is in form, there is no better batsman to watch but consistency has been a big problem for him over the years. He sometimes plays a few risky shots which bring about his downfall. He will do well to cut down on these risky strokes early in the innings. He is best when he takes some time to get his eye in before playing those lofted strokes. Yesterday he looked like a man possessed and he almost made an unlikely chase possible only to miss out on the last ball. 4th century in the IPL for him yesterday and probably his best. Looking forward to some consistency this year from him.

6. Arshdeep Singh made some good contributions with the ball towards the end of the last season. India is on the lookout for some good left-arm pacers and Arshdeep’s performance yesterday after the heroics of Chetan Sakariya in the first innings shows that India has back up resources in this department. His last over was wonderfully executed. Rajasthan Royals needed 13 off the last over with Samson and Morris at the crease but he was able to defend that to give Punjab Kings a 4 runs victory. 

The Misses:

1. Without the services of Jofra Archer, Rajasthan Royals have a problem in hand when it comes to their bowling. This imperatively means that for one, Mustafizur and Chris Morris together can’t have bad days on the field. Also important is that Ben Stokes need to bowl some important overs and he along with Buttler has to contribute consistently with the bat. Bowling is the team’s weak point so their batsmen have to overcome that by scoring a few extra runs. Yesterday all their foreign recruits fail to deliver. That they were still able to come close to the Punjab Kings score of 221 runs was only due to the special innings from Sanju Samson.

2. Rahul Tewatia became a household name last season after some consistent performances. This year his stakes have risen and it’s now up to him to show the world that it was not a fluke. He failed with both the bat and the ball. The catch that he took to dismiss Rahul was a great one though.

3. Though Punjab Kings won the match, I don’t think we would have seen such a close match without the help of the Punjab Kings’ fielders. 3 absolute easy catches were dropped and Sanju Samson was a beneficiary too. I am sure their fielding coach, Jhonty Rhodes will have some tough words to say to the players after yesterday’s horror show.

What to look forward to?

I felt Rajasthan Royals did a mistake in team selection yesterday by playing an extra spinner. Wankhede is not the kind of ground where you play two leg spinners if both of them are not Rashid Khan category. I will suggest one change and that is to get Karthick Tyagi in place of Shreyas Gopal for the next match. They can also think of getting Miller in place of Vohra and Unadkat in place of Mustafizur. Here is my XI for their next match.

Manan Vohra, Jo Buttler, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rayan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rehman, Karthick Tyagi & Chetan Sakariya.

For the Punjab Kings, they have a problem with their team balance due to the lack of all-rounders on their side. They can’t do anything about it so they need to get their combination right. I think playing Chris Jordan in place of Riley Meredith would make more sense because Jordan is more than handy with the bat and his bowling in the death overs is very good. Also, I think Ravi Bishnoi is one of the best talents in Indian cricket and I was slightly disappointed seeing him benched yesterday. I hope they get him back to the playing XI in the next match.

Here is my XI for their next match.

KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Md. Shami, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi & Arshdeep Singh.

So what do you think about Sanju Samson’s innings yesterday? Will he be able to have a consistent season this year? Can he win the Orange cap this season? Do write in with your thoughts as I get ready to watch KKR take on Mumbai Indians later in the evening.

Share this...

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin