The Punjab Kings find their ways to underperform themselves each year. Last year they had one of the best teams and were looking good for most of the tournament, but they still couldn’t finish in the top four of the league. This year too, they had the biggest purse in the auction and bought top players like Meredith, Jhye Richardson, Moises Henriques, etc. Punjab Kings are struggling this year despite having talented cricketers and are currently sixth in the table with a disappointing start to the season. However, with the second half of the tournament shifting to the UAE, Punjab kings look like a determined team to qualify in the top four. Also, with some new additions like Adil Rashid, Markram, etc., they have a great chance to make a comeback in the league. They need to make some adjustments that may impact their losing form in a good way in the tournament that will guarantee them a place in the qualifiers.
Punjab’s below-par form in IPL 21
PBKS in the first leg of the tournament in India looked poor. They were not able to find any momentum during the league. In their last five matches in the league, they won two and lost three, displaying their disappointing performance in the tournament. They have played with a batting average of 25.34 and have bowled at an expensive economy rate of 8.24. They have struggled in both departments of the game especially bowling.
They have just won three matches at a mere win percentage of 37.5. There is a lot to this poor performance in the tournament by the franchise led by KL Rahul. Their team management has been questioned before for their team selection and some tactics implemented throughout the league. They still haven’t found their best playing XI, and they are struggling to find the momentum in this year’s tournament.
Finding the ideal opening partner for Rahul
KL Rahul is the only batsman who is leading the batting unit and has been the top scorer for PBKS last year as well as this year. But he is falling short of partners. Punjab Kings needs to start well with the bat to secure a strong position in the upcoming matches since their middle order has not performed well. Mayank’s form has fluctuated, and he has not been as fluent as he was last year. Chris Gayle has been pushed to the number three position by the management committee, but the Universe Boss has not looked like the explosive batsman he was earlier when he used to open the innings.
There is no doubt that the Universe Boss is the better opening batsman than Agarwal. The team management needs to look at this stat and think about the balance of the batting unit. With Gayle opening the batting, it then brings Mayank to bat at the number three position, who can bat throughout the innings and bring stability. Then either Hooda or Pooran can come in next and take the innings till the end or score quickfire runs. With Gayle opening with KL, it gives flexibility to the team, and it provides the team with the left-right opening combination that can trouble the opposition bowling.
Vulnerable Middle Order
Even though the top three have played their part and have been pretty good, the middle order has looked pretty standard. The middle-order with players like Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, etc. haven’t performed yet in the tournament. The Indian batting unit except Rahul hasn’t been up to the mark. Therefore, this has been the main concern of this batting unit.
Khan called the second Pollard by the Punjab coach, hasn’t showcased his true potential talent yet, and has just scored a single fifty in the tournament. Despite being a hard-hitting batsman, Pooran has scored at a strike rate below 100 in his poorest batting form. This is unacceptable in this format, and especially for a batsman of Pooran’s abilities. Despite looking the best among all the other players, Deepak Hooda lacks the skills to finish matches whenever necessary, which is an issue that has been lacking in the team this year. PBKS needs their middle-order batsmen to flourish to win matches from crunch situations.
Inconsistent bowling attack
Meredith and Richardson, the new inclusions in the Punjab pace attack, didn’t quite display their true talent. They did show a lot of promise in the Big Bash but couldn’t implement the same on the slow nature of the Indian pitches. Other than the two foreign pacers, Indian bowlers like Shami, Arshdeep, M. Ashwin, etc. couldn’t win matches for the PBKS with the ball in hand.
The lack of consistency of the pace bowling attack, their need for a proper death bowler, etc. resulted in such a poor show by the Punjab kings in this year’s tournament. They also lack a professional spinner who can bowl economically and pick up wickets. This inexperienced attack has now strengthened with the signing of Adil Rashid, an experienced leg spinner from England. He is a specialist who can pick up wickets regularly. To sum up, there are huge potholes in this bowling attack of the PBKS that they need to identify and solve to demolish strong batting line-ups in this tournament.
Conclusion
The skipper, the head coach, and the coaching staff need to be more efficient with their resources. They do have the firepower in their batting and bowling line-up, and now with their new replacements in the squad, they look like a strong team on paper. With six games remaining, they have a great chance to make it to the top four of the league, and ultimately win this prestigious league for the first time in history under the captaincy of KL Rahul.