Punjab, Rajasthan in fight for survival

Not all is lost for both these champion teams but at no point have they done well so far in the tournament. Winning just 3 games out of 7 (RR) and 8 (PBKS), have put them in a difficult situation and to get out of this misery, a lot of amazing cricket needs to be played.

Majority of the matches that Rajasthan Royals have played, have all been very closely fought and for not once have they looked to be in panic. Just when Rajasthan found some rhythm by winning 2 of the last 3 encounters, the tournament took a break cause of Covid-19. But now when IPL is back, Punjab will look to dominate the remainder of the 6 games. If they win 5 of the 6 games, then they should be through, while 4 games would keep them hanging in mathematical calculations.

But then, when you have players like KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Dawid Malan, Nicholas Pooran, Mayank Agarwal, Moises Henriques and Deepak Hooda; who are all well recognised T20 players and all have the capacity to change the game in a matter of an over. But then the major area of concern comes in the bowling, which has some big names here and there, but they haven’t really combined together as of now, and that’s putting that extra bit of pressure on the batting of Punjab Kings.

SAME BOAT

Just like Punjab Kings, even Rajasthan Royals also won 2 of their last 3 games, before the tournament had to take a break cause of Covid-19. Rajasthan are actually in the similar boat as Punjab, just that they have a little more room than Punjab with that extra match, but then 5 out of 7 games is still a difficult task. Winning has to start immediately and life is not going be easy.

Expectations have been high from a star-studded team like Rajasthan, but then the players haven’t stood up to it, or can we say that the management hasn’t been very smart in creating a combination. Sanju Samson, who has been a big sensation and a lot has been spoken about it, but his consistency has majorly disappointed. On good days, he is brilliant and one can’t stop talking about him and then comes those other days, and the problem is that those other days come too often for one’s liking.

Since their inception, Rajasthan Royals are known for promoting and revolving around the youngsters. But the main point has been missed that, it was the experience of Shane Warne, that carried and guided all those talented youngsters and gave them a platform to express themselves. While come here, all these wonderful talents such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Mayank Markande, Shivam Dube, Chetan Sakaria, Shreyas Gopal, Mahipal Lomror and a few other international stars also need a father figure to guide them on the ground. Probably, if this team was able to retain all this talent for 3-4 years, then it would be the team to beat, but currently they lack the much-required exposure.