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Pre Match Analysis

Crunch time: Battle Royal on our hand

DURBAN, MAY 5: Halfway through the tournament and KXIP is placed second in the overall table after a tough start to the tournament. But here on in, it’s only going to get harder. Starting today. Playing a resurgent Rajasthan Royals, KXIP will want to win and continue to remain the top four and safe en route the semi-finals.

Today’s match gains significance since the Royals have recently won twice and are on a roll. They have also been one of the best exponents of changes to the batting to suit the match situation. With Yusuf Pathan being held back till as late as possible, it has only aided Shane Warne in planning around him. But that could itself be the undoing for the Royals… their dependence on one man.

Pathan has been in great form and has seen RR over the line on a fair few many occasions, but the team’s dependence on him will surely burden him sooner than later. Abhishek Raut has shown good form and the ability to be calm under pressure, but both these players would be looking for support from a top order that just hasn’t fired at all.

In the bowling department, Shane Warne has shown his guile and class and has been the pick of the RR bowlers. Yusuf Pathan has done his bit with the ball too but RR has leaked runs at the start of the game regularly.

On the other hand, KXIP has come together very nicely despite the unexpected loss to RCB last week. Having won four of their last five matches, they are one of the teams that has shown consistency in all areas of the game.

The batting order for KXIP has been shuffled a few times and they have had three different openers for the last three games, but coach Tom Moody says that all part of a plan. “We want to keep the opposition guessing and don’t want to become predictable,” he said about the changes in the batting order.

Kumar Sangakkara may have failed in the last match, but he is in good form as is Mahela Jayawardene after his match-winning 52 not out against KKR on Sunday. Yuvraj Singh is also in good touch and then there’s Irfan Pathan and Simon Katich who have been consistent with their contributions.

While the team composition for this game would depend on the conditions and the pitch, there may be a couple of surprises and changes in store. With both teams locked closely for points, there may be little to choose from them. But we’re cheering for KXIP!

Post Match Analysis

Kings submit to Royals

DURBAN, MAY 5: Winning the toss was the only positive for the Kings XI Punjab on a warm, sunny day in Durban. No sooner had the Royals’ innings begun did they assert themselves over the KXIP bowling attack.

Opening the bowling with Ramesh Powar once again, KXIP got off to the most horrendous of starts conceding 16 runs off the opening over. Rajasthan Royals’ opening pair of Naman Ojha and Graeme Smith pounded the bowling into submission and raced to 50 in just the 6th over. Smith, who had been struggling with his form until today, scored a scorching 77 off just 44 balls that included 12 boundaries and one six. Ojha, who was the aggressor at the start of the innings scored 68 off 51 alls with 5 fours and 5 sixes. Together, the opening pair put on a record 135 in 15 overs at over 9 runs per over.

Although the Royals lost three wickets for 29 runs including that of Yusuf Pathan (12), they never let the run rate slag. Even in the period they lost wickets, they scored at almost 15 to the over! If the pounding earlier wasn’t enough, Ravindra Jadeja got an early let-off off the bowling of Piyush Chawla when Karan Goel overran a catch on the boundary. That missed chance cost dearly as Jadeja scored 33 off just 12 balls.

For KXIP, Piyush Chawla was the pick of the bowlers conceding only 30 runs off his four overs and picking up two wickets. All the other mainline bowlers went for at least 10 an over including S Sreesanth who made a comeback to the team after a long layoff due to injury.

The total of 211/4 was always going to be a tall order, but a good start would have gone a long way in getting the chase underway. Unfortunately, KXIP lost Sunny Sohal off the first ball and Karan Goel off the last ball of the opening over. At 2-2, they were staring down the barrel and had a steep climb ahead.

Unfortunately, the Rajasthan Royals were on fire and bowled perfectly to their plan and just did not let KXIP score freely. After 10 overs, KXIP had just 53 runs on the board and half the team was already out. Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan were the batsmen at the crease and KXIP still needed 161 to win in just 10 overs.

Irfan and Yuvraj did get some momentum going, but Irfan fell soon after for 19. Yuvraj battled on almost till the end and his 48 was the highlight of the KXIP batting effort. KXIP eventually wound up for 133/8.

With this loss, KXIP has slipped to sixth in the overall table while Rajasthan jump to second behind the Chennai Super Kings only on run rate.

Speaking after the loss, coach Tom Moody said, “It was a difficult day and one of those where it wasn’t meant to be. We started off on the wrong foot and when they took our first over for 16, it was hard to come back from there, really.” Moody added that no individual or discipline was to blame… “This wasn’t the Kings XI team out there today!”

Looking forward, Moody said that there’s no point analyzing this too much. “We’ve had our post-mortem and we’re looking forward to our next game and making sure we learn from this,” he added.

Piyush Chawla, who was the rare success with the ball today for KXIP said, “It was a day where nothing went right for us. That happens some times… we just need to move forward.” Speaking about his bowling, he added, “I just bowl line and length and hit the right areas. I was attacking and looking for wickets because only wickets can help in such a situation.”

KXIP next plays the Chennai Super Kings in one of their toughest matches yet on Thursday at Centurion.