Momentum is a strange thing. Everything would look fine when you have it; you would come back from the dead and win matches.
When you lose it, things could go awfully wrong. Like Kings XI Punjab discovered in its last couple of matches.
It lost both of them, to Sunrisers Hyderabad away and then to Mumbai Indians at home, or rather the ‘second home’. That was after R. Ashwin’s men had posted four wins on the trot.
After the six-wicket defeat to MI here just a day ago, they would be itching to get back to their winning ways as they take on Rajasthan Royals at the Holkar Cricket Stadium on Sunday. To do that, they have to bat, bowl and field better than they did on Friday.
Ashwin had admitted that the fielding was an issue after the defeat to Mumbai. “We gave away some five or 10 runs,” he said. “We knew that fielding was going to be a problem for us after the auction but we are trying to put our best efforts.”
Candidness isn’t the only thing that has impressed in Ashwin’s maiden stint as an IPL captain. He has proved an astute leader.
He believes a good batting surface and a relatively small ground make defending a tough task here. So KXIP needs run from beyond the top-order where openers Chris Gayle (302 runs at an average of 100.66 and a strike-rate of 154.08) and K.L. Rahul (292, 36.5, 164.97) have both been brilliant.
Royals too have some stroke-makers in form. Sanju Samson, that explosive talent from Kerala, is its leading scorer with 282 runs (40.28, 145.36). And if someone like Jos Buttler gets cracking — as he did against Delhi Daredevils in the last match in which he raced to fifty in 18 balls — there could be quite a run feast.
Ajinkya Rahane’s men will look up to their bowlers like Jofra Archer, the pacer who has emerged as one of the uncapped stars of the season, to lift it up. Like KXIP, Royals come to this match with two successive defeats.
“Yes, we are in a tough situation but that has made us more determined,” said Samson. “I hope the pressure will bring the best out us.”
The host is far better placed — fourth in the table — but a hat-trick of losses is something it will be keen to avoid.
Teams (from):
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Heinrich Klaasen, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Sudhesan Midhun, Sanju Samson, Jatin Saxena, D’Arcy Short, Ish Sodhi, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Jaydev Unadkat.
Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, David Miller, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot, Axar Patel, Akshdeep Nath, Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary, Yuvraj Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Dagar.
Match starts at 8 p.m.
