Match 32 saw PBKS put up the lowest score in this year’s IPL. The DC bowlers were helped by some unimaginative batting and also a lack of batting depth in the PBKS team. David Warner and Prithvi Shaw made light work of the chase, scoring DC’s highest Powerplay score. Let’s look at some key performances from this low-scoring clash.
Spinners coming to the party
Two days back, 417 runs were scored at the Brabourne Stadium, 217 coming in the first innings. Today, PBKS scored over 100 runs fewer than that. The nature of the pitch was vastly different in the two games.
PBKS got off to a good start, scoring 27 runs off the first three overs. That prompted DC to bring Lalit Yadav, their sixth bowling option, into the attack for his off-spinners. He immediately got a wicket and signalled that the ball was stopping a bit off the surface. Axar Patel was then introduced into the attack, and he further proved the pitch’s nature.
On a sluggish pitch, the spinners combined to pick up figures of 6/45 off 10 overs. Axar Patel was the pick of the bowlers, conceding just 10 runs off his four overs and picking up wickets of Livingstone and the dangerous Jitesh Sharma. The key to Patel’s bowling was his lengths. He kept the ball on a good length and even shortened his length at times, keeping it around the off-stump, making it difficult for the batters to put him away.
Punjab Kings’ batting depth
PBKS went into this match replacing Odean Smith, an all-rounder, with a fast bowler in Nathan Ellis. This meant that they only had six proper batters, with Kagiso Rabada coming into bat at number seven.
Their approach of going hard throughout the innings requires a good batting depth, else, losing a few quick wickets can result in them not utilizing the 20 overs with full potential, something that they endured in this match.
PBKS – Lack the finishing touch
The lack of batting depth in the PBKS team is also restricting them from posting above-par totals. This is evident from their run rate in different phases of the innings. In the first 10 overs, PBKS score at 9.1 RPO – the best in this year’s IPL. However, they are the worst-performing team in the last 10 overs, scoring at 9.0 RPO.
When teams have been scoring well over 12-14 RPO in the least five overs, PBKS score at just 9.22. Their middle overs slowdown is even more alarming, as they score at 8.48 runs per over between overs 7-15. It is often known as the ‘moving phase’, which sets the platform to accelerate at the death, but their modest returns have not allowed them to tee off. This shows the importance of having good batting depth to sustain their approach of scoring quick throughout the innings.