What is ailing Punjab Kings?

Familiarity is often an indicator of an oligarchy, as Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings go on to prove time and again, by winning 9 out of the 14 editions of the Indian Premier League. It is the familiarity of understanding the ethos and how to close them in a very ruthless manner that has made them stand out as the flagbearers of the league’s 15-year-long journey. 

On the other hand, we have Punjab Kings, or Kings XI Punjab as it was called a couple of years ago, who would go down as the perennial underachievers of the tournament despite mostly having a great team to boot. Is it the management or is it the embedded philosophy of the team that never ever managed to punch above their collective weight? It is a dichotomy that would continue to haunt the side as they sit on the brink of elimination halfway through the tournament. 

Nine matches, four wins, and five losses - Punjab Kings are not where many experts, analysts, or even their fans would have expected them to be after the kind of auction they had. They had covered most bases, found a captain whose intent is to score runs freely, and then formed a lethal middle-order that could take down any opposition bowling unit on their own. In the form of Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, and Shahrukh Khan, it was, in fact, a dream line-up complementing the bigger ambitions of winning the whole thing. Then what has gone wrong? 

A muddled batting approach

At the start of the tournament, the blueprint was clear. Punjab wanted to go with their skipper Mayank Agarwal’s philosophy of going aggressive right and then maintaining the same tempo throughout the 20 Overs. In theory, this made perfect sense and that’s perhaps how T20s should be played going forward. However, the failure to internalize everything made the strategy look like a half-baked one. 

When the side lost two matches in a row after losing wickets in a cluster, they were forced to go defensive. In the first seven matches, PBKS had a powerplay run rate of 9.5, a middle-order score of 8 runs per over while the corresponding numbers for the last five overs stood at 8.4. In their last game against CSK, they took a measured approach in the powerplay and then teed off with wickets in hand later on. 

Their focus in the PP was on the strike rotation and playing safe shots. They took plenty of quick singles and ensured that they didn’t look more than 1 wicket early. Their boundary % was significantly lower than what they have been hitting in this IPL before the CSK game. It seemed like that was going to be the pattern going forward but they quickly bounced back to a sedate and ineffective method against Lucknow Super Giants. It was never going to help, was it?

Where are runs for Mayank?

Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul formed a very lethal opening pair for Punjab Kings in the last two seasons. While Rahul moved at his own pace, Mayank dominated the powerplay like none else and left a lasting impression on everyone. However, returns this season haven’t exactly been what was expected of him. His average of 20.3 is the second-lowest for a skipper in this IPL.

His struggles have been against both pace and spin. Against pacers, he has been dismissed 4 times and has faced a lot of balls, but what is concerning though is that a gifted player against spin like Mayank has been dismissed 3 times for just 31 runs. 

A big reason behind Mayank having been kept quiet is how the pacers have bowled to him. Mayank is a front-foot dominant player and loves to drive the ball. But the pacers haven’t allowed it as they have kept it shorter thus keeping Mayank tied up and forcing a mistake. With only five games remaining, the Punjab Kings skipper needs to have a settled approach immediately, or else they would see yet another season walk away from his clutch, and this time, it would come at a cost.

Bowling fails to take the stride

On many fronts, Punjab Kings are one of the worst bowling line-ups this IPL. Only CSK and MI have performed worse than them, with the Agarwal-led side having an economy of 8.9 runs per over. Their average of 30.8 is only better than Mumbai Indians, who have failed to stitch a single win in 8 games. Be it the number of boundaries conceded or balls per wicket, in no count, were they better than teams above them on the points table.

Then what has gone wrong? Arshdeep Singh has played a vital part in most of the games where death-bowling has come into the picture. He faced such instances in 4 games and delivered in each of them with 3 out of them ending in a win for his team. That he hit the yorker length on a consistent basis helped him big-time but from the likes of Odean Smith to Sandeep Sharma, none has been able to have that kind of impact.

That Kagiso Rabada has blown hot and cold in a regular interval hasn’t helped the cause at all. The failure to hold that has ensured Punjab Kings tottering at the bottom half of the table and losing grip over a chance to make amends. 

Can they pull it off from here? Your guess is as good as mine.