Eyeing first top-two finish in 11 years, PBKS face ousted Delhi Capitals
Riding a wave of success after a decade of pain, a full-strength Punjab Kings will fancy their chances of securing their first top-two finish in 11 years, when they face Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.
Apart from the 2014 season when they topped the league table and finished runners-up, PBKS have only made one other playoff appearance in a competition that has been in existence for the past 18 years.
Having ended an 11-year drought, PBKS are now relishing the prospect of not just finishing in the top two, but also enter the summit clash and then make a dash for a maiden title.
A squad that is already brimming with confidence was shored up further when their overseas quartet of Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie and Kyle Jamieson joined their extremely talented Indian teammates in the Pink City three days ago.
All four will be available for selection as PBKS look to book a top-two finish with a win over their beleaguered opponents who were knocked out of the playoffs reckoning after a big defeat to Mumbai Indians on Wednesday.
These foreign players left the team after the BCCI had to suspend the tournament for a week due to the military conflict between India and Pakistan that led to the abandonment of the match between these two teams midway through the first innings in Dharamsala on May 8.
The match was called off after 10.1 overs of play after a blackout in the picturesque hill town.
The PBKS think tank did well to promptly bring back their overseas contingent after the tournament’s resumption, and the squad now resembles a band of men determined to make up for the years of disappointment the franchise faced in the widely watched event.
PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer, who has recently made history by becoming the first captain to lead three franchises to IPL playoffs, has been the key to their success and for the side to go all the way, the stylish batter will need to continue in similar vein in the remaining matches.
Prior to his triumphant campaign with Kolkata Knight Riders last year, Iyer had led Delhi Capitals to the playoffs in 2019 and 2020, including their only IPL final appearance in 2020.
He is also the second highest run scorer this season with 435 runs in 12 matches, and he is gunning for more.
Thanks to the performance of players such as Prabhsimran Singh (458 runs), Priyansh Arya (356 runs), Arshdeep Singh (11 wickets) and Yuzvendra Chahal (13 wickets), PBKS have emerged as the most consistent side this season, accumulating 17 points from 12 matches to secure a playoff berth with two games to spare.
As far as Delhi Capitals are concerned, they have had their chances this season but the lack of big runs in the powerplay consistently and the absence of lead pacer Mitchell Starc towards the end has had an adverse impact on their prospects.
They will look to end their disappointing campaign on a high note, but up against an in-form opponent like PBKS, it is easier said than done.
Teams:
Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer ©, Arshdeep Singh, Priyansh Arya, Pyla Avinash, Azmatullah Omarzai, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Praveen Dubey, Aaron Hardie, Harnoor Singh, Harpreet Brar, Josh Inglis, Kyle Jamieson, Marco Jansen, Musheer Khan, Mitchell Owen, Prabhsimran Singh, Kuldeep Sen, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Nehal Wadhera, Yash Thakur.
Delhi Capitals: Axar Patel ©, Mustafizur Rahman, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Tristan Stubbs, Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Sameer Rizvi, Darshan Nalkande, Tripurana Vijay, Dushmantha Chameera, Faf du Plessis, T Natarajan, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Manvanth Kumar L, Madhav Tiwari.
Match starts at 7:30 PM
