Punjab Kings suffered a 60-run defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Dharamsala on Thursday and was eliminated from the race for playoffs in Indian Premier League 2024.
The side’s barren run without a playoffs appearance has now extended to its 10th season.
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In a season where it recorded the highest successful run chase in T20 cricket and beat five-time champion Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk, Punjab still failed to reach the last-four stage.
Sportstar takes a look at what went wrong for Punjab Kings this year.
Big names fail to fire
The slide started for Punjab Kings when its captain, Shikhar Dhawan, injured his shoulder against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. Dhawan, the side’s most experienced player and highest run-scorer, has not played a game since.
Aggravating the top-order woes was the lean run for England international Jonny Bairstow. The opening batter has scored 284 runs in 10 matches, with 108 coming in a single innings against Kolkata Knight Riders in the record run chase of 262 at Eden Gardens.
A big miss: Punjab Kings’ captain Shikhar Dhawan injured his shoulder during Punjab Kings’ match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. | Photo Credit: AP
Lower down the order, Jitesh Sharma had been crucial in providing the final flourish last season. The wicketkeeper-batter has just 133 runs from 12 outings. His strike rate, 156.06 in 2023 and 163.64 in 2022, has plummeted to 124.30 this season.
With the ball, the dwindling returns of Kagiso Rabada (11 wickets in 11 innings) have hurt Punjab Kings.
Not enough runs on the board
With Dhawan ruled out and Bairstow misfiring, Prabhsimran Singh has been left to carry the Punjab batting at the top.
The side has scored at 8.93 in the PowerPlay this year, only Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants have a worse scoring rate in the first six overs.
Punjab has failed to make up for the slow starts, scoring at just over 11 per over in the death overs. Only GT has a worse death overs strike rate than Punjab.
Further, Punjab’s team batting average stands at 25.95, the second-worst in the league this year. More often than not, Punjab has relied on Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma to recalibrate its innings after a top and middle-order collapse, their 43-run seventh-wicket partnership against GT in an unlikely three-wicket win being a highlight.
Misfiring: Arshdeep Singh’s death overs economy in IPL 2024 is 12.72. | Photo Credit: PTI
Leaking runs at the death
Punjab bowlers have failed to contain the opposition in the death overs. They have conceded 12.28 runs per over, the third-worst in the league this season.
Arshdeep Singh had been the team’s go-to bowler at death in the last couple of seasons. The left-armer had an economy of 7.58 in the phase in 2022. In 2024, Arshdeep has gone for nearly 13 an over in the final phase of the innings.
In the PowerPlay, though Punjab’s economy rate of 8.86 is the second-best across the 10 teams, its haul of 14 wickets in the same period is the worst.
Not making home advantage count
The teams poor run at home has not helped its cause either. Out of its seven home games this season, five at its new stadium in Mullanpur, and two in Dharamsala, Punjab Kings has won only one — its season opener against Delhi Capitals.
The side had a foot in the door in three home contests (against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians, and Rajasthan Royals) but went down in the last over.
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