IPL 2021: Problems Galore for PBKS as Mohammed Shami, Jhye Richardson & Riley Meredith Continue to Leak Runs

Punjab Kings seem to find themselves in deep trouble as they languish on the seventh spot in the points table, and have the worst NRR so far in the tournament. They have lost two and won one, with their bowling already looking rusty and ineffective. Mohammed Shami, Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith have been leaking runs this season, and have become a big headache for skipper KL Rahul.

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Out of the four most expensive bowling figures this season, three of them are from these bowlers from Punjab. Richardson gave away 55 against RR, Shami – 53 versus DC, and Meredith 49 in the RR match. Of course there is Arshdeep Singh in the ranks too, who has bowled excellently so far, and given runs at only 7.11 per over this season, but has hardly found support from others. Such has been their plight that despite batting wonderfully in the matches against Rajasthan & Delhi — scored 221 & 198 respectively, their bowlers leaked runs. They narrowly managed to defend 221 against Rajasthan and conceded 198 to Delhi with 10 balls to spare.

Not only that, they haven’t managed to bag wickets either. All the three bowlers are wicket-takers and the team higely depends on them for success, but these players haven’t delivered together. Meredith, who has 49 wickets from 40 T20s, has only picked up two in three matches. Richardson has three in three while, in his T20 career he has picked 85 wickets from 70 matches — at a much better strike rate. And Shami has four from three.

What is surprising, is the fact that they haven’t bundled out a side yet in the competition. To add to the woes, out of the teams which have played three games, they have picked the least number of wickets — 15. This just goes to show their struggle till now.

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The Solution

Punjab Kings have some good T20 bowlers like Ishan Porel, Chris Jordan and Ravi Bishnoi, who not only have low economy rates, but also pick wickets. Porel boasts of a economy rate of under 7, and has 29 wickets from 19 matches he has played so far. While on the other hand, Bishnoi gives away 7.37 runs per over. Also, Jordan is a world-class death specialist bowler, who have vast international experience.

PBKS should look to make a few changes in their bowling line up, if they fancy winning a few matches in the tournament going forward.

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• IPL 2021
• Jhye Richardson
• mohammed shami
• PBKS
• Riley Meredith