Sourav SinhaPunjab Kings back to winnings ways

24April

Punjab Kings back to winnings ways

One of the major differences between IPL and other Cricket leagues across the world has been the quality of cricket. Over the years we have been entertained every evening through IPL. Unfortunately, we are seeing a meltdown this year. And one of the reasons for that has been the quality of cricket that’s being dished out over the last few days.

I believe it’s happening due to two reasons:

The pitches in Chennai has been horrible where stroke-making is extremely difficult
Too many matches are being affected due to dew.

Dew is not controllable but they should change the ball every 3 overs whenever the umpires see that the ball is getting too wet. The toss should not decide the fate of the match in T20 cricket.

The pitches were controllable and I am highly disappointed with the slow and low conditions of Chennai which has made them look like 3rd-day test pitches.

Mumbai Indians Vs Punjab Kings ideally should have been a high-scoring one with both teams possessing some great stroke makers. But what we were dished out was an insipid game of slow and painful batting performance. In the end, Punjab Kings won by 9 wickets with 14 balls to spare but as could be seen, it was not easy going for them. Mumbai Indians missed a trick by not playing Piyush Chawla because the way the match panned out, another leg spinner could have made a difference for them.

Let’s look at the hits and misses from yesterday’s match.

The Hits:

Ravi Bishnoi has been a surprising omission from the Punjab Kings playing XI this season. I was kept wondering why. Last season he was one of their top performers and it was great to see him back. He has come back with a strange bowling action but the googlies had the same zip as last year. For a leg spinner, he has amazing control on line and length and he got rich dividends from the same too. Mumbai Indians was slowly getting their innings back on track when he got Surya Kumar Yadav out to bring Punjab Kings back into the game. 2/21 in 4 overs should be convincing enough for the team management to persist with him in the future matches.

KL Rahul has been highly criticised this season for his slow batting but this was one match where no one complained because Punjab Kings had only 132 runs to chase. A good solid half-century to take his team home must be highly satisfying for him. With Chris Gayle in company, the chase was never out of control. With no run rate pressure, it was a good professional chase by the duo.

Rohit Sharma along with Surya Kumar Yadav has been the only two batters from Mumbai Indians who have looked in form. And it was once left to both of them to take the team to a decent total. Till the time they were in the crease, Mumbai Indians looked all set to score 150+ but as soon as both of them lost their wickets it fizzled out. Rohit on his part scored his first half-century of the season.

Md. Shami had a rough time in the last match going for plenty of runs. I was interested to see how he comes back yesterday. Thankfully he didn’t disappoint and his usual line and length was back proving the last match to be an aberration. 2/21 in 4 overs must be a huge relief for his team.

The misses:

Hardik Pandya is not fit enough to bowl and the way he is throwing balls underarm I have a feeling he is not 100% fit. His batting is nowhere close to what people expect him to do. He needs to put his head down and play himself in before playing balls in the air. His performance thus far has been one of the biggest disappointments this IPL.

Both Quinton De Kock and Ishan Kishan have been a disappointment for Mumbai Indians thus far. All have struggled to adjust to the slow and low conditions in Chennai. Mumbai must be very thankful that Sunrisers and KKR lost their matches from winning positions otherwise Mumbai would have been languishing right at the bottom of the table. It’s been their bowlers who have helped them garner 4 points and I hope a change of venue will do them a world of good going forward.

What to look forward to?

Playing Moises Henriques and Fabian Allen together seems to be a very defensive plan for Punjab Kings. I would prefer Chris Jordan to replace Allen in future matches. With Chris Jordan at number 8, their batting lineup will have good balance and he is terrific with the ball at the death. This one change can make a lot of difference to the team.

For Mumbai, they need to take some hard decisions and one of them should be to drop Quinton De Kock. In Ishan Kishan, they have a ready-made opener available and they can replace QDK with Jimmy Nisham who can slot into number 5. Even after this change, their fortunes can only change if Hardik Pandya gets them the runs. He is an important clog in Mumbai Indians’ wheel and frankly, they don’t have a like-for-like replacement. At the moment the team is way too dependent on Rohit and Surya Kumar Yadav which is not an ideal scenario for the defending champions.

I am still backing them to reach the playoffs but the next match is very important. They need a turnaround in their batting fortunes otherwise it can turn out to be a campaign to forget for Rohit Sharma.

What do you think? What changes do you foresee in the Mumbai Indians’ team?

Do write in as the bottom rung teams Rajasthan Royals and KKR meet each other today in Mumbai.

Stay Safe! Be atmanirbhar! You are on your own so take care of yourself and your family. Mask Up India!

PS. As a leader, you should be ready to take tough decisions. If you always take populist decisions then soon you and your organisation will suffer! People respect those who take decisions and inspire others to follow those decisions. Similarly, if decisions go wrong great leaders forthrightly accept their mistakes and change the course of action rather than hiding behind the decisions looking for scapegoats.

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