Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], May 15 : After Punjab Kings (PBKS) registered their fifth successive loss, assistant coach Brad Haddin expressed faith in his bowling group, citing that the bowlers just need to find a way to deal with the growing fearlessness of batters with every season.
PBKS' IPL campaign continues to slump after a dream seven-match unbeaten streak. Once being talked about as strong, sure-shot top-two contenders, their qualification to playoffs is now at stake, making their final two matches must-win. With an economy rate of 10.77 (worst among all teams), and a bowling average of 45.85 (second worst), the PBKS bowling attack, consisting of Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen at the helm, is undoubtedly the worst bowling attack in this season.
While left-armer Arshdeep (13 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 34.30) is improving his numbers in the second half, the foreign quicks, Marco Jansen (seven wickets in 10 matches at an average of above 64 and an economy rate of 10.38) and Xavier Bartlett (five wickets in nine matches at an average of 77.60 and an economy rate of 11.88) have failed miserably.
Speaking about the bowling in the post-match presser, Haddin said that the bowling attack has been "chopped and changed" as per conditions, but with the increasing level of power and fearlessness in batting, PBKS need to find a way to deal with it.
"We have got a lot of confidence in every bowler in our squad, every player in our squad. What you do see in this tournament now is some unbelievable power. It is different to what we were used to. 200 used to be a really, really good score.
And now it is a score that teams are not intimidated by. We have just got to find a way," he added.
PBKS have dropped around 19-20 catches this season, with their fielding efficiency at a tournament low. Shashank Singh has been a serial offender, dropping almost a third of these catches by himself. Shashank has also been terrible with the bat, scoring just 76 runs in eight matches at an average of 15.20 and a strike rate of over 176.
Speaking about team's poor fielding, Haddin said, "I think throughout the tournament, all teams, we have seen a drop in the standards in the field. We have done some good things. We have done some things that you need to work on, but it has been a trend through the whole tournament with every team," he added.
Coming to the match, MI opted to bowl first. A 50-run stand between Priyansh Arya (22 in 17 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran Singh started off things well for PBKS. Prabhsimran had some struggles with his tempo, but managed to score 57 in 32 balls, with six fours and four sixes and put on a 57-run stand with Cooper Connolly (21). From 107/1, PBKS collapsed to 140/7.
Cameos from Azmatullah Omarzai (38 in 17 balls, with two fours and four sixes), Vishnu Vinod (15*), and Xavier Bartlett (18*) took PBKS to a competitive 200/8 in 20 overs. Shardul Thakur (4/39) and Deepak Chahar (2/36) were the pick of the bowlers for MI.
During the run-chase, Ryan Rickelton (48 in 23 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) and Rohit Sharma (25 in 26 balls, with two sixes put on a 61-run stand. But PBKS lost wickets at regular intervals after that, and at 149/4 in 17th over, the match looked balanced. Tilak (75* in 33 balls, with six fours and six sixes) and Will Jacks (25* in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) put on an explosive 56-run stand, chasing down the target with a ball left.
Omarzai (2/36 in four overs), Yuzi Chahal (1/32 in four overs) and Arshdeep Singh (0/29 in four overs) bowled well for PBKS, but other than that, their foreign quicks Marco Jansen (1/55) and Xavier Bartlett (0/53) continued to leak runs.
MI is at the eighth spot in the points table, with four wins and eight losses, giving them eight points. PBKS stays in top four with six wins, five losses and a no result, giving them 13 points. If Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Friday, they would be out of top four.