The comeback story that people were looking for, finally seems to be hitting the nail on its head in this IPL as Kings XI Punjab defeated table-toppers Delhi Capitals by five wickets in a largely one-sided affair in Dubai to gather their third win in a row. The best part of the wins has been the way they have approached the games in the last three matches as the teams that they have defeated are all in the top three of the table right now.
Things have started to click finally for the Kings from Punjab as even Glenn Maxwell, who had for the last nine games been a mute spectator with the bat showed glimpses of hitting form as he made 32 of 28 deliveries. More importantly, he is bowling some crucial overs at the start as well, becoming the utility player that the Punjab team required.
Reacting to the win, Kings’ skipper KL Rahul was happy that Nicholas Pooran batted the way he did and said, “When you play with 6 batters and one all-rounder, one of the top four had to do the job.”
He further praised his bowlers saying, “Shami was coming in after some confidence from the last game. Arshdeep bowled two overs in the powerplay and one over at the death. And he nailed 6 yorkers.”
Maxwell finally seemed to have found form and the 28-year-old skipper was also pleased with it. “Glenn has been batting well in the nets. He is a great team man and we know the balance he brings to the table,” Rahul said about his Australian match-winner.
Having won three games against the table toppers, Rahul revealed the strategy that the team has been following saying, “The talk before the last couple of games was to beat two teams that were at the top of the points table.”
Talking about the last game in which Kings played not one but two super overs, Rahul said, “I couldn't sleep after the last game. We could have finished it before and not allowed it to go into the super over.”
“The game reminds us to stay humble. We would want to take the momentum forward and take it one game at a time,” he added underlining the importance of playing with gratitude and respect for the game.
Losing captain, which Shreyas Iyer hasn’t been referred to as much this IPL as KL Rahul, felt that his team was about 10 runs short. “We fell around 10 runs short, but we got a lot of learnings from this game,” he said.
Praising Dhawan, Iyer further said, “Shikhar's batting was positive. He read the wicket well, adapted to the situation, he went hard from Ball 1 and passed the message onto the youngsters that the wicket is stopping. He acclimatized to the conditions quicker than the others.”
Further, to make sure that all the players feel positive after the game, Iyer also had a chat with domestic lads like Tushar Deshpande. “Tushar leaked runs but that happens to the best of us. I'm sure he will come back well,” hoped Iyer.
“The good thing is that the boys will be charged up for the next game. We weren't up to the mark, but I'm sure we will be next time,” he concluded.
Reacting to the three back to back wins for the King, the experts predicted a comeback for the Kings Xi, and most of their comments were directed towards that only. Few also chose to highlight Shikhar Dhawan's amazing feat of back to back hundreds.
Aakash Chopra believes that this loss to Delhi Capitals has come at the right time for them to tighten up the screws, where it's loose.
Harsha Bhogle, a senior cricket analyst and commentator compared Kings XI's comeback to a car other cars' rearview mirror suggesting that it is now becoming a threat for everyone to buckle up.
Senior Broadcast Journalist, Vikrant Gupta while talking about the progress of the Punjab team was happy with their three back to back wins, but also sounded the warning bell for them as the day's job was almost over.
Former India coach and currently the coach of the Zimbabwe team, Lalchand Rajput was awed by Shikhar Dhawan's back to back hundreds at the same time also showered his praises to Punjab's Nicholas Pooran for the breathtakingly fast half-century.
Sambit Bal, another senior journalist enlisted the KXIP as a serious outside contender and he did it because the Punjab team has its matches against teams of lower half now.
Whether Punjab manages to travel from the last position to the playoffs is still to be seen, but with performances like these, they have surely created a buzz for themselves,
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