Another season, another opportunity for Bangalore and Punjab

A new season, and a new opportunity for Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore to win their maiden Indian Premier League title. 

The two franchises will be under new leadership, with Faf du Plessis taking over Bangalore’s captaincy from Virat Kohli, while Mayank Agarwal has been given the same responsibility at Punjab. Still eying their maiden title triumphs, both teams will be eager to make a strong statement first up when they come face to face against each other at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on Sunday (March 27). 

The two sides haven’t had a lot of success in this competition. Bangalore have made it to the finals three times but have never managed to get their hands on the silverware. They were horrible in 2017, 2018 and 2019 but did manage to qualify for the playoffs in the last two seasons, only to end up losing the Eliminator on both occasions. Meanwhile, Punjab haven’t even made it to the playoffs since 2014 and that must tell you how mediocre they have been over the last seven editions. 

There are quite a few overseas players who won’t be available for the first few games but RCB and PBKS will have to make do with whatever options they have in their arsenals. The two sides will step on the field with some flaws and the battle is most likely going to be between Punjab’s formidable batting unit and Bangalore’s all-round bowling attack.

Overseas stars missing

Both franchises will be without some of their certain starters and might find it difficult to come up with a balanced unit. Kagiso Rabada has joined the Punjab squad but the South African paceman will only be available from the second encounter. Meanwhile, England’s Jonny Bairstow is currently in West Indies and Punjab will have to go with either of Jitesh Sharma or Prabhsimran Singh as their wicketkeeper. On top of that, they will also be without Australian paceman Nathan Ellis who is currently with the national side in Pakistan.

Talking about RCB, the newly married Glenn Maxwell will miss at least the first two matches. Meanwhile, Australian seamers Josh Hazlewood and Jason Behrendorff will only be available after April 6. Bangalore have enough depth in the bowling department but will surely miss the services of Maxwell who was phenomenal for them in the last season. 

Let Virat Kohli be Virat Kohli

Over the last four seasons, the right-handed batter has scored more than 400 runs every season but has looked far from his authoritative best. It will be the first time Kohli will not be leading RCB in nearly a decade but the focus will still remain on the batting maestro. However, the team management will hope that relinquishing captaincy will unburden Kohli and the 33-year-old will return back to his best.

Also read: RCB carry bowling heavy look to step into a new era

In terms of consistency, only Suresh Raina (9) has had more seasons scoring 400+ runs than Kohli (8) in this franchise-based T20 league. However, in the last two years, Kohli hasn’t looked at his usual best in terms of scoring intent. He has hit a boundary once in 8.4 balls since IPL 2020 and his strike rate against spin has been below-average. During his golden run in IPL (2015-2017), he got out to spin just twice and scored at a SR of 140+ in each of those seasons, which has now come down to just over 100 in the last two editions.

The onus will now be on du Plessis and the RCB team management to unchain Kohli and give him the freedom to play an aggressive brand of cricket from the word. Bangalore will surely miss Maxwell in the middle-order but they have got quite a few bowlers who can bat and that will give them the much-required batting depth. Bangalore would also hope that du Plessis has a solid season with the bat, just like he did for Chennai Super Kings in the last year, scoring more than 600 runs.

Bowling looks sorted for RCB

The likes of David Willey and last year's leading wicket-taker Harshal Patel will provide Bangalore some variety but a lot will depend on Mohammed Siraj and legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga. In IPL 2021, Siraj was economical in all three phases and was the leader of their pace attack. Among pacers who bowled a minimum of 20 overs in the last season, only three went for less than 7 runs per over – Anrich Nortje, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Siraj. His economy of 7.5 at the death was the joint-second best alongside Jasprit Bumrah (minimum 10 overs).

Meanwhile, Hasaranga was called in as a replacement in the second half of IPL 2021 but only got to play two games in which he conceded at 10 runs per over. However, it will be unfair to judge him based on those two games as he is someone who is a proven performer in the format. The legspinner has been Sri Lanka's biggest match-winner in T20Is in the recent past and has established himself as one of the best spinners in world cricket. Bangalore will need their bowlers to take up the ownership and make sure Punjab's big-hitters don't get to dictate terms.

Punjab’s fearsome batting unit

Head coach Anil Kumble has been pretty outspoken about how he wants Punjab to play with a lot more intent and the team management has actually done well to put up a formidable batting line-up filled with some of the most powerful strikers in world cricket. Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan form one of the most ideal opening combinations. Being right and left, and given Agarwal’s ultra-aggressive intent against spin (strike rate of 180 off the first 10 balls, zero dismissals), they will not be vulnerable to match-ups. Dhawan’s rise as a T20 batter has been phenomenal in the last two years and does the job of holding one end up while hitting timely boundaries well, especially in the middle overs.

Also read: Punjab Kings are now an intent machine

In the middle-order, they will be without Bairstow for a couple of games but have still got batters like Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan and Odean Smith. Tamil Nadu's Shahrukh, in particular, has started to show his ability to finish games for his side. PBKS have made a heavy investment on the youngster and he will be raring to go and put on a show for his side. He made his IPL debut in 2021 but hardly faced enough balls to make a difference. 

In the domestic circuit, not many batters have scored at a better strike rate than the big man. We all know what he did in the finale of the last edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and was also impressive in the 2021-22 Vijay Hazare Trophy, smashing 253 runs at a strike rate of 186. Punjab have also invested a lot on Livingstone and Smith and would expect these three to wreak havoc in the second half of the innings.

Probable XIs

Punjab - Mayank Agarwal (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prabhsimran Singh/Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar/Raj Angad Bawa, Benny Howell, Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Rahul Chahar.

Bangalore - Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Anuj Rawat/ Mahipal Lomror, Sherfane Rutherford/Finn Allen, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj.