The Kings XI Punjab are really losing their way. There isn’t any logic to describe why the runners-up of last season are playing this kind of cricket. Clearly, somewhere, something is massively wrong.
Otherwise, it’s tough to understand why such a good team on paper is on a downside after such an impressive season last year. Nothing seems to be working for the Kings. Monday’s match against the Hyderabad Sunrisers at Mohali was a perfect opportunity to raise their game.
George Bailey and his men collapsed like a pack of cards, they didn’t bat as bad as the Delhi Daredevils did against the Royal Challengers at the Feroz Shah Kotla. But it was bad enough to lose the match against the Sunrisers by 20 runs.
It was perfect platform for the Kings to stage a comeback into the IPL with a resounding performance. They won the toss to start with and then asked the Sunrisers to bat first.
Spearheaded by their captain David Warner’s find knock, the Hyderabad team did reasonably well to make a 150. With the ball, Trent Boult made most of the situation and took some important wickets for his team. His memorable bowling performance was well complimented by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
While chasing, the Kings lost wickets at regular intervals. For the second time in a row, the Kings were playing without Glenn Maxwell, who was one of the star players for the Kings last year.
However, he has been out of touch and runs have simply not come for the Aussie. Even Virender Sehwag was rested for this game. So, the Kings XI didn’t get off to a rapid start. In the middle overs, both Bailey and David Miller tried to repair Kings’ innings.
By the time they were dismissed, Wriddhiman Saha took it on his shoulder to take his team near the winning total. Still, the asking rate was too high for any individual to win the match singlehandedly.
Now that the tournament is half way down the line, the Kings can only hope for a miracle to come out of this crisis.
