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Pre Match Analysis

KXIP prepared for toughest challenge yet

DURBAN, APRIL 28: After a quick trip to Cape Town where KXIP beat the Rajasthan Royals convincingly, they are back in Durban and ready to face the challenge of the Mumbai Indians on Wednesday.

The Mumbai Indians, after a tough season last year, have started very strongly this year. With two wins and one abandoned game in four matches, they are currently third in the points table with five points and just one ahead of the Kings XI Punjab at the moment. A win tomorrow will push KXIP up to joint second with Delhi Daredevils who suffered their first loss of the season on Tuesday at the hands of the Rajasthan Royals.

Durban has been a mixed ground for KXIP so far having won one and lost one. But with a bit of momentum behind them, they are a confident team. There is some bad news already, though, with VRV Singh set to miss Wednesday’s clash after he injured his finger in the last game against RR. His is likely to be replaced by Vikramjeet Malik against Mumbai.

Both teams are strong in the batting line-up but the biggest challenge for KXIP will be countering the threat of Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar who demolished Kolkata Knight Riders just a couple of days ago. “We’re lucky that we have a couple of Sri Lankans in our side who know Sanath’s game well and I’ve spent some time in Sri Lanka, so I know a bit about Sanath,” said Tom Moody about countering half the problem. “But they are two great batsmen and in form, so our work is cut out,” he added.

Durban has proved to be a great pitch with some high-scoring games and tomorrow may be no different. With a double-header scheduled for Wednesday, Durban may well be witness to an avalanche of runs.

Apart from the opening pair, Mumbai has also shown good form with the ball with Zaheer Khan leading the attack. But the KXIP batting looks well-settled and has already won a tough chase apart from setting a challenging total.

Bat first or bowl first will be the dilemma, as always, and coach Tom Moody wasn’t divulging too much on that front. “We have discussed and have some plans, but I don’t want to give away too much of our strategy already!,” he said. Fielding will play an important role with both sides strong on batting and Moody was quick to point out that KXIP has been working hard on their fielding and will look to keep the pressure on the batsmen. Bat first or not, KXIP will look to their strong batting to lead them to their third successive victory in a very important game. Moving up to second will be further proof that KXIP is indeed the team to beat here on.

Post Match Analysis

Kings XI make it three in a row

APRIL 30, DURBAN: The Kings XI Punjab team continued on their winning streak with a close, but well fought win over the Mumbai Indians in Durban on Thursday. The low-scoring affair proved to be a humdinger with KXIP winning by just 3 runs thanks to some solid fielding and a powerful bowling performance.

Batting first after winning the toss, KXIP had a slow start on a tough pitch. Wickets fell regularly and by the fifth over, KXIP had fallen to 18/2. More trouble was around the corner and KXIP had plunged further into trouble when Mahela Jayawardene fell for 7 and KXIP was 52/4. All this while, though, Kumar Sangakkara was solidly batting to push KXIP towards a semblance of security. For once, Irfan Pathan couldn’t come to the rescue either and with just over 3 overs left, KXIP was looking at a seriously low total.

Ramesh Powar joined Kumar Sangakkara in the middle after Piyush Chawla fell two balls after Wilkin Mota to Lasith Malinga. For KXIP, Malinga’s spell of 4 overs proved to be the most crucial and hard one to counter returning figures of 2/12. As was the case with the earlier game of the day between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore, spin played a big part in this game as well. Defending a small total of 119 can bring the best out of a team as a unit. And KXIP came out on the field looking like a team with a purpose. Early wickets was the only way KXIP could have a shot at defending their meagre total. And despite a first-ball wide, Irfan Pathan provided the perfect start getting Sanath Jayasuriya caught at slip for 0. The very next over, Vikramjeet Malik made a major breakthrough getting Sachin Tendulkar caught at square midwicket by Mahela Jayawardene for just 1. The game was on!

Shikhar Dhawan was the next man in and he didn’t last too long either. Falling to a quick yorker from Yusuf Abdulla, Dhawan’s wicket made it 12/3 at the start of the 5th over. KXIP was fighting back and hard. Dhawan’s wicket brought Dwayne Bravo to the crease and he forged together a good partnership with JP Duminy who was now leading the resurrection for the Mumbai Indians. But Bravo fell to Ramesh Powar’s bowling, caught on the boundary and at 45/4, the game was swinging in favour of KXIP.

Abhishek Nayar was the next man in and along with Duminy, he put on 49 runs for the fifth wicket. While this pair was at the wicket, Mumbai INdians were in with a chance, but Nayar fell to a screaming yorker from Irfan Pathan at a most crucial time giving KXIP another shot at the win. With 20 runs required off the last two overs, Piyush Chawla accounted for Harbhajan Singh putting anoterh hurdle in the way for Mumbai. And when Duminy finally fell in the last over of the match, Mumbai still required 7 runs to win. They managed only 3 off the last two balls and KXIP had pulled off a remarkable win.

“It was a close game, but I am thrilled with the team effort to get us over the rope,” said a happy Tom Moody, the coach of KXIP. Moody acknowledged that it was a tough wicket and the team did fall short of its own expected total. “We thought we were 15 or 20 runs short of the total we would have liked, but we knew that 120 was going to be a competitive total,” he said.

Kumar Sangakkara, whose 45 proved to be the difference between the two teams was awarded the Man of the Match for the second successive game. “When you are playing well, you’re playing well!” said Sangakkara after the match. “There are some things we could have done better, but the fightback in the filed and the bowling was something to be happy about,” added the wicketkeeper-batsman.

KXIP next play the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday in Durban against whom they had started their winning run just about a week ago.