Kings XI Punjab eager to pace out seam bowling shortcomings

CHANDIGARH:  When  a slew of good things happen, the not-so-good generally tends to be swept under the rug. Take Kings XI Punjab, for instance. KL Rahul was the toast of the town a fortnight ago during their campaign opener against the Delhi Daredevils, after blitzing his way to the fastest IPL fifty. Two weeks later, R Ashwin’s men were being lauded for having tripped up a marauding MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings, besting them by four runs in a nail-biter. Those two matches also in a way exposed an ailment that seems to be afflicting Punjab: their pace contingent is far from firing on all cylinders at the moment.

Against Delhi the nine overs sent down by Mohit Sharma, Andrew Tye, and Marcus Stoinis were taken for 78 runs. Though Mohit did account for two wickets and Stoinis only rolled his arm over for six balls, Tye’s day at the office ended on a relatively low note, as his four overs cost Punjab 38 runs. Against Chennai, Barinder Sran, Mohit and Tye were tonked around for 131 runs in their 12 overs. Though three wickets were claimed — and Mohit and Sran also made amends towards the end by stymieing Dhoni by going full and wide — the match could have very well been won by Chennai had it not been for the muzzling that Ashwin and Mujeeb Ur Rahman exerted.

The two tweakers gave away only 50 runs in their seven overs. Against Royal Challengers Bangalore, though Tye came out unscathed (27/1 in 4 overs, the only below-30 outing for him so far), Mohit was treated like a pinata by AB de Villiers, who mangled his figures to 0/45 in 3.3 overs. That Punjab’s spinners have alleviated this issue with their frugal outings is evident from the way statistics are poised at the moment. The 11 overs delivered by Mujeeb have cost Punjab only 6.81 runs from each of them. Ashwin too has been quite the miser in his 12 overs, giving away only 7.08 in them.

Despite a mauling he received against Delhi, Axar Patel bounced back against Bangalore, remedying his economy to 8.57. In contrast, Mohit has borne the brunt of most willow-wielding onslaughts, as reflected by his economy of 10.86. Tye and Sran have fared relatively better, with their per-over leakage amounting to 9.33 and 9.25, respectively. Even in terms of doing real damage to the opposition, Punjab’s spinners have shouldered most of the responsibility so far.

Mujeeb, Ashwin, and Axar have accounted for nine wickets. The pacers, on the other hand, have only six scalps. With another imposing batting line-up in store for them in the form of SunRisers Hyderabad on Thursday, Axar believes his team’s pacers will step up to the plate. “Not all bowlers can come good on a single day. Our pacers have both the quality and the experience to bounce back. We’ll do our best against Hyderabad, and in the matches to come.” rahul.ravi@newindianexpress.com