The opening week of the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League is behind us and the standout team for me so far has been Gujarat Lions. In their first two matches, they were in a spot of bother with the opposition in control but they fought brilliantly despite it being their inaugural season.
My team Kings XI Punjab and then Rising Pune Supergiants were in similarly strong positions against the Lions in their respective matches – 100-odd on board in the 12th over batting first.
But Gujarat dragged themselves back into contention with some excellent bowling in the death overs. And a lot of credit goes to the excellent bowlers they have in Dwayne Bravo, James Faulkner and Ravindra Jadeja.
The combination of these bowlers worked very well for them in restricting the opposition to totals in the region of 160. With such a target in front of them, the batsmen’s job was made easier.
In the first match, Aussie opener Aaron Finch scored the bulk of the runs while in the second tie, against Pune, both Finch and Kiwi marauder Brendon McCullum got going. With Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik also scoring, their top order looks in good nick and it’s no wonder they chased down the targets with ease.
Teams must realise that in order to post big totals consistently, their top three players have to be in good form. If you look at Kolkata Knight Riders, Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir have been superb so far and that has reflected in their results.
Looking at the tournament as a whole, matches have been more or less one-sided. And that is to be expected. The opening week in the IPL invariably sees such encounters because the squads, more often than not, come together just a week or so before the start of the tournament.
They usually take time to find their feet before they get the mix right and get a good idea about the ideal playing XI and batting order. I expect things to really pick up from the second week onwards.
The DJ is BACK!!! Champion! Champion! Champion! @TheGujaratLions #MIvGL #IPLhttps://t.co/H4H44XVsrq
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 16, 2016
Quite a few batsmen are also taking slightly longer to get into the thick of things. It could be because quite a few of them are fresh off a demanding World Twenty20 campaign, while some are battling indifferent form or fitness. Also, the wickets have not been that helpful for stroke-makers.
Sure, the Bangalore wicket has always been a batsman’s paradise. And we have already seen a 200-plus total on it (227 by Royal Challengers against Sunrisers Hyderabad). But on the rest of the surfaces like Delhi and Mumbai, shot-making has been quite difficult.
It has been the case for most of the T20 season in India, starting from the series against Sri Lanka and followed by the World T20. The wickets are not 100 per cent perfect for T20 cricket but good enough in my book.
Maybe the surfaces will improve as the tournament goes on and allow for high-scoring matches. And I also hope batsmen find their feet soon and start to score big.
As far as my team Kings XI Punjab are concerned, our batsmen are still not in top form. We depend heavily on David Miller and Glenn Maxwell and they are not in good nick at the moment. I am hoping that they will hit the straps soon and things will go back to the way they were two years back when we were scoring over 180 and even 200 regularly.
Once these two click, I am sure Kings XI will be a completely different side. Also, our bowlers will get an opportunity to showcase their abilities because so far we haven’t had big enough totals to defend. My team has the potential and I am confident things will turn around soon.
