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| Image Credit:Daljit8 |
Hello friends,
I am back with the third installment of "IPL- Cricketing extravaganza amidst crisis". Was the third week that exciting compared to the previous two? Probably not.Quite a few matches promised to be exciting ones.But eventually they turned out to be one sided affairs.Gap between the top & bottom half in the points table has started to widen .Teams in the bottom half continued to repeat their mistakes in terms of their team selection, following the basics properly or definite strategy; whereas teams in the top half kept on improving match after match in every aspect of the game. So the coming week should be the most exciting one as teams lagging behind at this stage may not get another chance if they fail to perform this week.Talk of the town was though the performance of the CSK team. They are too good a team to be languishing at the bottom,though none should write them off as yet. It will be a real test of character for the 'Men in Yellow' from here on. Teams may start to work on improving their Net Run Rate(NRR) especially the ones who are having a negative Net run rate currently as that can be a deciding factor at the end of the group league matches in case of two or more teams sitting on same points.It will also be exciting to see how the Indian youngsters gear up to cope with the extreme pressure situations in the coming days.Till now most of them have fared well. Hopefully the virtual knockout games in the coming days bring some of the best performances by Indian youngsters.Also as we are progressing towards the fag end of the tournament more low scoring matches could be a common feature due to the slow nature of the pitches .Spinners are definitely going to play a big role in the coming matches.So overall an exciting week full of extremely competitive matches is definitely on offer.Let's now move on to our regular feature of last week's noteworthy performances.
Smart utilization of resources Vs Lack of faith in resources
Kings XI Punjab(KXIP) has been one of those teams this season who started really well but saw a downward movement quickly due to some of the repeated mistakes.A losing streak resulted in lack of confidence among the players as well as the team management.It can be put across the other way as well..Lack of confidence in players leading to consecutive losses .It's the job of the leadership group to show confidence in players & back them to perform when the circumstances are not favourable.But constant changes in the playing eleven shows little faith of team management in their players.This move doesn't seem to work in their favour either.In fact it creates a sense of panic & uncertainty among players which can very well be reflected in their performances. The Punjab franchisee came to this match with a combination which was questionable from the start. Eventually their strategy backfired again to result in another loss. At the end barring from a solo effort from Nicholas Pooran to chase down a 200+ target & an improved bowling performance during the death overs there was not much positive takeaways for the KXIP team.Teams who have done well in past or are doing well in the current season have one thing in common.They try to find their right team combination at the start of the tournament & then back the same bunch to perform consistently. In any team game that's the most important thing. Hopefully KXIP team realises that sooner than later. On the other hand their opponents Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH) who have suffered injury blows to key players are improving with every match. Best part about the Hyderabad based franchisee is they are very much aware of their strengths & weaknesses and utilizing that to the best of their ability. It was no exception in this match too.Knowing that they have a resource short in their bowling department, they ensured that they perform well with the bat & back that up with strong bowling performances from front line bowlers. Timely bowling changes also ensured that they are able to keep the opposition under pressure.Ultimately the lack of a strong fifth bowling resource didn't stop them from going all out for a win & achieve it.They have exhibited a proper example of smart utilization of available resources. Credit should go to the leadership group who didn't go for constant changes in team & backed the selected ones to perform.
Finish the job on your own
Kings XI Punjab at it again. This time too they ended up on the loosing side, rather dramatically.It must have been a heartbreaking moment for them to lose this match against Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) as they did almost everything right apart from closing the game .In any sports or profession team work is so important. Every individual in a team is assigned with a certain task to perform. At the same time when an individual performs well amongst his or her teammates, that performer should think of going the extra mile to get the work done for the team irrespective of thinking about others' performances. It's the ownership of the job in hand that the person needs to take at times. This match was a prime example of what happens when you perform well through the course of the match but fail to close the game. After a solid opening partnership ,the franchisee from Punjab was in a very good position to emerge as the winners. But they repeated the same mistake of past of settled batsmen not closing the the games.Eventually they ended up on the loosing side even after the best possible effort from Maxwell in the last over. It was the job of either of their openers to go that extra mile & finish the game for the team rather than leaving it for somebody else. On the other hand KKR guys who didn't get much of the success in the initial overs ,could tighten the grip towards the end courtesy some smart bowling & mistakes of their opponents. It was the second consecutive match where Knight Riders came from behind to seal a win. Hopefully KXIP learnt the lessons in the hard way & comes back stronger in the upcoming matches.
Self belief amongst adversity
Rajasthan Royals(RR) is another team which started the tournament on a promising note but could not hold on to that in the next matches. After four consecutive losses they were in a must win situation in this match against Sunrisers Hyderabad(SRH). Return of all rounder Ben Stokes was a big boost for them. At the same time four changes from their previous match was again giving the indication of their lack of faith in players. They were chasing a stiff target on a pitch which was not favourable to batsmen.Another top order collapse made it even worse for them.Till the 15th over of their batting it all looked gloom.But it was that man Rahul Tewatia again,paired with another young Indian talent Riyan Parag did the job for his team. It was the self belief of those two that helped them to survive during the crunch phase & cut loose when it was needed the most.It was fascinating to see two young Indian players standing tall amid adversity & emerging as winners.They did not get bogged down by another failure of their top order or think much about the outcome .Rather they just focussed on the present situation & acted accordingly.This scintillating effort by two of their young players should prove to be a big confidence booster for the entire team.
To be continued...
Click here for the Part-II of this series.
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