Punjab Kings had to lose at some point. This format has in-built safeguards against the kind of domination they were threatening. Their L against Rajasthan Royals, in New Chandigarh shouldn’t bother Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting. But there are signs that the L will be seen more seriously than just another law-of-averages defeat in the middle of a dominant IPL season.
This was only the second time they had batted first. On the earlier occasion, against Lucknow Super Giants at the same venue in Mullanpur, their batters had played LSG out of the game by scoring 254. Defending 222 against Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and friends was always going to test their bowlers.
Both the captains expected this chase to be tougher. Iyer praised his batters for batting “exceptionally” to get to the score they did on a “tacky and slow” surface, but he was just as quick to acknowledge his bowlers didn’t quite execute what was discussed and planned: “bowl a lot of slower balls, pace-off, yorkers”.
“I honestly thought it was going to be a very neck-[and]-neck because they would bowl a bit more slower balls after watching us bowl it, but yeah, I think the way they batted (Donovon Ferreira and Shubham Dubey), immense, commendable,” Riyan Parag said in a refreshingly candid post-match interview.
It is a stinging assessment coming from an opposition captain, but RR had seen batters could be slowed down with changes of pace. Brijesh Sharma made a good case for changes in pace, conceding just nine off seven slower balls according to ESPNcricinfo logs.
It would be unfair to say the PBKS bowlers went out there and forgot their plans, when Sooryavanshi started hitting them. They did bowl more than twice the slower balls compared to RR, but they ended up conceding a whopping 64 off 27 slower balls for no wicket. That is probably why Iyer specifically spoke of the execution. They were either so far off their marks, or the pitch had settled down so much, that the opposition captain didn’t feel the opposition used enough of the most effective weapon.
What makes this slightly more worrying than a one-off for PBKS is that they have now conceded five scores of 200 or more and one 195 in seven completed innings. Only Mumbai Indians have conceded more than their 10.5 an over, and nobody comes close to the 41.72 runs PBKS have spent for each of their 36 wickets.
The PBKS batters – or indeed the conditions they are playing in – have so far made up for these numbers. However, they haven’t done so in the way their closest rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru have. RCB are No. 2 from the bottom on runs conceded per over and No. 2 from the top on runs scored per over. PBKS, one point ahead of RCB in the group stage at this point, can’t quite boast of such dominating results in both their departments.
A lot of these numbers come down to Arshdeep Singh having his worst IPL both in terms of economy and average. Even in this game, he was the one bowler that could be criticised for not even trying enough slower balls. Mind you: Arshdeep has played a significant role in two victorious T20 World Cup campaigns. He will just have to bring all his pedigree to turn this season around.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for PBKS in New Chandigarh, though. Their bowling coach James Hopes acknowledged the result didn’t look great, but they were able to field two bowlers they had been waiting to introduce this season.
Just back from paternity leave, fielding Lockie Ferguson allowed PBKS to go one fast bowler light and check out the left-arm spin of Harpreet Brar. The spinner bowled his four overs for just 25 runs. The coming together of two spinners means they might have a point of difference to work with in their bowling now, especially in the powerplay. Also, Ferguson might have gone for 57 in his four, but showed glimpses of why he is rated highly.
Now on the road for two matches before they play three straight games at their adopted home of Dharamsala, PBKS will dearly love to get back to winning ways. Preferably without asking their batters to do unbelievable things every time.
