Sheer Carnage!
Kings XI jinx themselves to give MI a runaway win.
Some believe that the number 13 brings bad luck, some don’t. Well, after yesterday’s performance, I am sure the whole Kings XI setup are believers of that particular phenomenon. Last evening in match number 13 of IPL 2020, Kings XI Punjab got an absolute hiding from Mumbai Indians.
Kings XI bowling innings
What an awful performance from Kings Eleven Punjab. This was the kind of performance that kills the team spirit; jeopardizes the whole season. Let’s start with the team selection for the Kings. Why would you drop a leg spinner and play an off spinner, Gowtham replacing M. Ashwin, especially when you know that the opposition batsman has big hitting right handers. A wrist spinner has a googly which he can use if he faces up to left handers, while the off spinner can really not do much if he comes up against a big hitting tall right hander. Also, if there was some swing for the bowlers at practice, which I am sure there was looking at the way it swung in the match, why would you still not play Jordan ahead of Neesham?
Questionable tactics of Kings XI during this first innings
- Once the match started and it was evident there was ample help for fast bowlers, why was Shami taken off after just 1 over. You had Cottrell bowling beautifully from one end, you also had MI 2 wickets down. Why did Shami not bowl a second over in the powerplay?
- Bishnoi was given an over against Rohit in the powerplay, and he bowled well to him too. Then why wasn’t he given a second over in the powerplay?
- Why would you have Gowtham, a domestic cricketer, a limited offspinner, bowl at Pollard and Hardik in the 20th over?
Kings won the toss and decided to put Mi in. The start from MI was not that good, losing both De Kock and Suryakumar early. But Rohit dug deep, and along with Ishan got the team to 80 odd in 13 overs. Up until this point Kings were in my opinion favorites. What followed next was sheer carnage, Rohit 70 off 45, Pollard 47 off 20 and Hardik 30 off 11 took turns to bat Kings eleven out of the match, scoring a mammoth 104 runs in the last 6 overs. Rohit just knows how to pace an innings, a captain’s knock indeed and Pollard has become dependeably consistent now. Even Pandya got some quick fire runs at the end, capping off a fantastic innings for the MI.
Kings XI bowling innings
Chasing 192 on a wicket which had pace, bounce and movement against the likes of Pattinson, Bumrah and Boult was never going to be easy. Kings lost two in the first 6 as well making the job tougher, the law of averages finally catching up with Agarwal. Karun Nair went on to disappoint one more time, he doesn’t really have the game to bat at 3 in the T20 format. Anil Kumble should be asked why he still has Karun in at 3 or for that matter Sarfraz at 7. Sarfraz doesn’t have a big shot in front of the wicket, and with the quality of bowlers each team in the IPL has at its disposal, he will have to add certain shots to his armour if he wants to keep playing in the IPL. Pooran played a decent knock, but once he went so did the hopes of Kings too. Bumrah made a great comeback in this match after conceding a few in the last one, he got Mayank Agarwal with a peach of a delivery. The fourth bowling option for Mumbai Rahul Chahar bowled well, as did Krunal, the 5th bowling option, who picked up a wicket in the powerplay too. Compare these two to Neesham who conceded 50 odd, and Gawtham who was equally expensive, and the difference in class of the two sides becomes painfully visible.
Today’s win by MI was not just about the bad decisions by the Kings. In the end it really was a one sided match, a win by 48 runs for MI. Kings have to stop making panic stricken decisions. Bowling out Cottrell inside the 14th over in Dubai because of what happened in Sharjah, was not a smart move. That last over bowled by an offspinner was something that could have been avoided by the Kings all together. KL Rahul the captain, in the company of Anil Kumble the coach, was a let down last night, they will need to start producing invariably good results if they are to continue at the helm of Kings XI Punjab beyond this season.
Hoping to see a closer contest in the next one.
