With their openers Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya having scored more than 323 runs as an opening pair in the unbeaten run for Punjab Kings this season, the Shreyas Iyer led side is looking unbeatable this season.
Last Saturday saw the Kings chasing a record total of 265 runs against Delhi Capitals at Delhi with the Punjab opening pair blasting 126 runs in 6.5 overs. Punjab’s score of 116 for 0 in the power play in the match was the second highest total in terms of runs scored in power play with Sunrisers Hyderabad’s 125 runs in power play against Delhi Capitals last season being the highest.
With Punjab Kings set to face Rajasthan Royals at Mullanpur on Tuesday, a team whose opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi too has been in devastating form with 358 runs this season, Punjab Kings assistant coach and former Australian player Brad Haddin believes their opening pair complement each other very well and they along with batters like Vaibhav Sooryavanshi have no fear of what’s coming towards them from the opposition.
“They (The opening pair of Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya) are not bad either, They are pretty good. I think the one thing that impressed me the most is that they complement each other. If I watch the way they play, it’s never just one, it’s two of them going together,” Haddin said in the pre match press conference.
“And two batters at such a young age and learning the craft. They have developed a really good partnership on the way to put pressure on opposition bowling attacks but they are doing that with some smart cricket with most impressive runs for us. I just think that the last game was probably a pretty good example of where Ricky (Ponting) has the batting group’s mindset. Obviously it was a record chase to go after but I don’t know if you remember what happened on the first ball of our innings. It went flying over mid-wicket for six. I think you will see that from both teams. You have got two opening pairs that are so dynamic. They will go after the game. Because it’s the mindset. They have zero fear of what’s coming towards them.”
This IPL season has seen the teams scoring a total in excess of 200 runs a record 31 times with 31 matches still to go in the league stage of the tournament. Last Saturday saw all the four innings in the two IPL matches in excess of 200 runs with Punjab Kings chasing the target of 265 runs set by Delhi Capitals followed by Sunders Hyderabad chasing the target of 229 runs set by Rajasthan Royals.
Royals’ opener Vaibhav Sooryavashi scored his second IPL hundred this season and the youngster with his knock of 103 runs coming off 37 balls. Like Punjab Kings, who have not scored below 55 runs in power play with two scores in excess of 90 runs in power play this season, Rajasthan Royals too have records in terms of runs scored in power play this season with their best score in power play coming with 97 runs in six overs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru this season.
When asked about team’s top order batters trying to target maximum scoring in the power play and a record number of scores in excess of 200 runs this season, Haddin saw the reason behind the record scores as the ‘power’ of modern day batting.
“I think what we are seeing is a trend throughout the tournament. And how impressive most teams are at the top in the first overs. It’s so hard to stop teams with the way they are playing the first six overs. You obviously got the replacement player too coming in so you can juggle and have an extra batsman allowing your top order to go harder than they have been doing in the past,” he said.
“But it’s just been entertaining to watch and from a coach’;s point of view, you have got to keep trying to find ways where you can slow the scoring down. Is that the wicket? Is that getting the batsman to hit you in the area that you want to hit sometimes? You execute a perfect ball and we have had a look at it on the number of occasions that the ball is still going into the stand. It is just the power of the modern day batting.”
Rajasthan Royals pacer Sandeep Sharma, who had bowling economy rate of less than eight in a IPL season five times in his career so far, too spoke about the challenge for the bowlers in recent editions. “I feel bowlers are evolving with time and they too surprise the batters. Well I agree that batting ability has improved over the last 3-4 seasons as we have seen how youngsters players are coming with different ball hitting ability. I believe yorkers and slower balls are the key in the format and bowlers have to find the areas where the batsman are weak and what their weak zones are. So they have to bowl at those areas consistently. And there are bowlers young or experienced in this IPL too, who are doing this. So I believe execution of plans and consistency is the key for bowlers this IPL,” said Sandeep Sharma.
