Kings XI hope for miracle against Super Kings
PUNE : With odds stacked against them in the race for IPL playoffs, a struggling Kings XI Punjab take on Chennai Super Kings in the final league match on Sunday at Pune.
Placed third at one stage, KXIP have slipped to the second-last position on the points table, accelerated by defeats in the last four games.
With 12 points from 13 matches and a net run rate of -0.490, KXIP need nothing less than a miracle to make it to the final four. The R Ashwin-led side needs to win by a huge margin and hope Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders lose their respective matches over this weekend.
“I don’t think it really matters whether you come fifth or eighth. The idea is to get into the playoffs. You are either in or you are out…we will evaluate tomorrow whether we have had a successful season or not,” said KXIP head coach Brad Hodge.
OPENERS MATTER
For KXIP, a lot will depend on their opening pair of KL Rahul
and Chris Gayle, and Purple Cap holder Andrew Tye would once again be expected to deliver the goods. However, it is the middle order that is of concern.
Some surprising decisions like sending Axar Patel ahead of Yuvraj Singh and Manoj Tiwary while chasing a stiff target against Mumbai Indians in the previous game, or sending Ashwin at No 3, have backfired.
The contest does provide KXIP to conjure up an inspirational performance. But the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium — CSK’S adopted home ground — has proved to be a lucky venue for the Dhoni-led team.
Chennai have won four out of five matches at Pune ever since they moved their base here. They have qualified for the playoffs, and will look to fire knowing they need a win to finish in the top two. It’s such a batsman’s game this. If it wasn’t, Jasprit Bumrah would have been one of the biggest stars of Indian cricket. Like Virat Kohli is with the bat, Bumrah has now become a game changer with the ball in all three formats of the game. When we all saw him for the first time, we thought, okay, here’s a bowler that Mumbai Indians have picked for his very different action.
It helps to have an unusual delivery action in T20s when batsmen are looking to tonk you for a six every ball. It just puts the batsmen off a little bit, that’s enough to make a difference between a ball sailing into the stands for a six or getting bowled trying to slog one over midwicket. It’s for this reason bowlers with unorthodox actions rule in T20s and IPL cricket.
It didn’t take long for us to realise that there was more to Bumrah than just his strange bowling action. What started to come through from his performances was the fact that this guy had a great range as a seam bowler. There is nothing Bumrah can’t do. He can bowl quickly at 145 kph, if needed, he can swing the ball in the air or seam it off the pitch and, he is comfortable bowling full or short or on good length too. Bumrah can bowl a mean bouncer and follow it up with a spearing yorker and he does all this with great control with that awkward action of his, an action that’s not prescribed in any coaching manual of the world. Shows there isn’t one copybook way to achieve excellence.
I asked him the other night when he won the MOM award in that ‘do-or-die’ game versus Kings XI Punjab what he thinks is his greater strength, his skills or his temperament — his calmness under pressure. He picked the mind over matter. Bumrah said his clarity is his greatest asset. One needs to be very clear about what one is going to bowl when he is at the top of his bowling mark.
Many people like me pushed for his selection in Test matches based on his exceptional performances in limited overs cricket. It was easy to see that he had what was needed for Test matches. So he got picked on the tour to South Africa, needed just one innings to adjust to Test match kind of bowling on those SA pitches and by the second innings of the first Test, he was in the groove. In the next Test, Bumrah had his first five-wicket haul.
Along with Virat, I believe Jasprit Bumrah is a priceless asset. Indian cricket and MI are privileged to have him.