Punjab face Hyderabad test, look to keep semis hopes alive

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

A beleaguered Kings XI Punjab will look to keep their Indian Premier League (IPL) semis hopes alive with a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Thursday.

Punjab, who had a stellar campaign when the IPL was held in the UAE in 2014, have been on the receiving end with four losses in five games. They are at the bottom of the table with just two points after defeats.

Despite their players topping the charts in the individual performances, they have not been lucky enough to get over the line.

Skipper KL Rahul and opener Mayank Agarwal are on the first and the third places with 302 and 272 runs respectively in list of the highest scorers this season.

Raul has scored one century and two fifties while Agarwal has one hundred and one fifty in his kitty. Punjab pace spearhead Mohammed Shami has been amongst the top wicket takers. He is on the sixth spot with eight wickets in five matches.

Out of the four matches that they lost, two were very close and they had almost won. Against Delhi Capitals (DC) they failed to score the winning run off the last three balls and lost the match in the Super Over.

They again found themselves on the wrong end against Rajasthan Royals. Despite scoring a huge total of 223, they could not defend it as Rahul Tewatia took the game away from them by hitting Sheldon Cottrell for a whopping 30 runs off the 18th over with the help of five sixes.

After a thumping loss by ten wickets against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), despite posting a fighting total, the chink in their bowling attack has been exposed.

With the tournament poised in such a crunch position, Punjab are likely to make few changes in their line-up for the next game.

Batting coach Wasim Jaffer dropped a hint about the inclusion of the overseas stars Chris Gayle and Mujeeb ur Rahman, who are yet to make their debut in the 2020 edition.

“It should happen soon. As I said, it needs to happen sooner than later. We don’t want to bring them when every game is a must-win game. Hopefully, we will have those guys featuring soon,” said Jaffer in an interview, which was posted by the franchise on their social media account.

If Gayle and Mujeeb are to be included, then it can be a selection headache for Punjab as per the rules only four overseas players can be included in the playing XI.

 “We obviously need Maxwell to fire. That is a tricky one, choosing the four overseas players. We got some time off and we will put our mind to it if Gayle and Mujeeb come in, who will make way for them,” concluded Jaffer.

When IPL was held in the UAE in 2014, Punjab had won all their matches owing to the stupendous form of Glenn Maxwell. He had scored 300 runs in five innings at an average of 60.

Despite a brilliant innings by captain David Warner, Hyderabad failed to go over the line while chasing 208 and fell short by 34 runs. With three defeats in five matches, Hyderabad are sitting at the sixth spot with four points only.

They also need to bring their campaign back on track before it is too late. Hyderabad’s problem has been the lack of depth in their batting. Their whole batting revolves around Jonny Bairstow, Warner and Kane Williamson.

However, their bowling is impressive with the likes of Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who can change the complexion of any game any time.