Punjab Kings would be aiming to arrest their surprising slide towards the business end of the Indian Premier League when they host an out of sorts Delhi Capitals in the picturesque environment of Dharamsala here on Monday.
Finishing the home leg with three games at the HPCA Stadium till May 17, Punjab Kings would be eyeing an improvement in all departments following defeats in their last three league games.
There is no to need press the panic button for a team that was the only unbeaten side in the competition not so long ago but it really needs to get its basics right for the remainder of the league stage.
PBKS’ catching was abysmal in Hyderabad, the pacers led by Arshdeep Singh have been leaking runs while the runs that were flowing from the opening duo of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have dried up.
Shreyas Iyer has led Punjab Kings from the front and with at least couple of wins still needed to make the play-offs, he wants his players to stick to the methods that brought them success in the first half of the tournament.
Momentum is key in a fickle format like the T20s and Punjab Kings would want that on their side as early as the next game.
“I feel we got a fairytale start in this tournament and everyone were in a great space and the mindset was top notch. I think it’s important that we stick with the same mindset.
“It’s easy to get diverted with talking negative about things. But definitely we got to go back, reflect on things that we didn’t do well in the particular last three matches and see to it that we come back strong,” said Iyer following the loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Delhi Capitals, on the other hand, already have one eye on the next season after losing five of their last six games, pushing them towards the bottom of the table.
They have had a horror run at home and therefore would welcome a change of scenery for the game against Punjab Kings. The batters have failed to adapt on slow and turning surfaces, exposing their vulnerabilities.
The ordinary run of premier spinner Kuldeep Yadav has compounded their woes while the arrival of Mitchell Starc may well be a case of too late. Like PBKS, fielding too has let them down.
“There’s still a long journey ahead and next year will come too. So we’ll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take. Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make,” said captain Axar Patel after the loss to KKR.
Mathematically, DC are not out of the playoff race yet but it is highly unlikely that they would go advance in the tournament.
Squads:
Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer ©, Priyansh Arya, Harnoor Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Mitchell Owen, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Musheer Khan, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Suryansh Shedge, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Yuzvendra Chahal, Lockie Ferguson, Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Thakur, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Praveen Dubey, Pyla Avinash, Vishal Nishad
Delhi Capitals: Abishek Porel, KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Tripurana Vijay, David Miller, Auqib Nabi Dar, Pathum Nissanka, Lungi Ngidi, Prithvi Shaw, Kyle Jamieson, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Madhav Tiwari, Sahil Parakh, Karun Nair, T Natarajan.
Match starts 7.30 pm.
Punjab Kings seek course correction against deflated Delhi Capitals
