Monday 16 May 2011

Sweet revenge for Kings XI Punjab

Well the last the Kings XI Punjab team faced the Delhi Daredevils at Delhi, the home team made it count for them by registering a 29 run win over their neighbors. And, much to everyone's surprise this time, the Kings XI Punjab did exactly what the Delhi Daredevils did to them a month ago this time at Dharamsala by the same margin of 29 runs. Thanks to some power hitting by Paul Valthaty and Shaun Marsh at the top, whose contribution with the bat laid the foundation after their team put up a mammoth total of 170 on the board.

In addition, there was Dinesh Karthik who aided the duo with his handy 27. Like it has always been the case with most of the teams, their captain never seems to experiment with their bowling no matter what. This time as well, James Hopes never got into experiment by opting for just 6 bowlers, four of whom bowled their entire quota of 4 overs. One over that made the difference between a victory and a loss for the Delhi Daredevils was that of Sridharan Sriram whose lone over cost him and his team 25 runs. May be this is the reason why captains don't experiment with their bowling.

Looking at the debacle of the Delhi Daredevils, the reason for the same can be thought of due to the lack of any quality players for them. There was Gautam Gambhir, A B de Villiars and Dilshan who have been picked up by different franchisees this time. Added to that is the absence of Virender Sehwag which creates a deeper hole in the Delhi Daredevils' worries. This time, some big names that can be read in the Delhi Daredevils side would be David Warner and James Hopes. Or else, why would Hopes be captaining his side. Gambhir would have been an asset had it been last time.

There was no batsmen in the Delhi side who scored even a 30. The best score was 29 from the blades of David Warner. Likewise, five bowlers were enough for the Kings XI Punjab to restrict the Delhi batsmen to a score 29 runs less than what the Kings XI Punjab managed. Perhaps! There was no Sriram in the Punjab team to give away 25 runs. Piyush Chawla made his presence felt not only by claiming the man of the match award but also by grabbing 3 wickets at 4.00 runs an over which makes him deserve the honor more than even Valthaty.

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