Sam Curran was steaming in at full throttle in the nets – a few on good length, a few on the Yorker length and more often than not, he hit the stumps. Albeit, there were no batters facing him.
Punjab Kings were following the two stump training regime for the bowlers on the eve of their contest against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Nathan Ellis, Rishi Dhawan, and Rahul Chahar followed Curran. So did Kagiso Rabada. Strangely, Rabada was not bowling with a full run-up – he took a short run-up and rolled over his arm. It was almost half an hour later that he started to go full throttle. Arshdeep Singh and Gurnoor Brar had also joined the group by the time.
All these while none of the batters but Shikhar Dhawan was vividly visible on the field. However, he was engrossed in a fun conversation with a few Delhi Capitals guys and nowhere close to facing his bowlers in the nets.
The PBKS squad seemed pretty relaxed, or at least tried to pretend so. They are ranked eighth on the points table with five wins from six games. They face DC on Saturday on the back of two back-to-back defeats.
Wasim Jaffer attributed their position to quite a few concerns but laughed it out saying it was not the first time that they were in such a situation.
“Lots of injury issues, Shikhar missed out a few games when he was in good form, Livingstone was injured. And then losing out two-three close games. This situation is nothing new to us, so hopefully we will come out of this on a positive side,” Jaffer said at the media interaction.
One of the primary factors their performance can be attributed is the performance of their overseas players. Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone have been the most consistent participants but their performances have been on and off. The likes of Rabada, Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Matthew Short, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa have not had the luxury of a continuous run.
Jaffer, on the contrary, explained that it is tough to pick between the overseas players and also expressed satisfaction at Curran’s performances.
“Sam had done well, apart from last one or two games. He has done okay with the bat and ball. He even captained three games where we won two games.
“Obviously, its tough to pick between Nathan Ellis and Rabada, we can’t afford to play both of them, because we have got Sikandar Raza as well, then Matthew Short played, and Bhanuka also played. Liam Livingstone has to play because he is such an X-factor player. So Sam and Liam have to play. Nathan Ellis because he gives so much quality as a bowler, as a death bowler specially,” Jaffer summed up their selection choices in response to a CricketNext query at the media interaction.
The former domestic doyen further defended that it is rare that four overseas players will fire simultaneously.
“Very rarely you get all four overseas firing. If you look around the franchise also, very few franchises where four foreigners have done well. So I think in the end, the Indian players have to step up. Any franchise who have done well, the Indian players have done well. Jitesh Sharma has done well, Prabhsimran has done well. So I think the Indian players have to step up and obviously foreign players have to fire at the same time.”
A few foreign players were brought in at a heavy price and might be thought to be facing the pressure of the price tag. Jaffer brushed off that perception as well.
“Rabada was a part of retained players, so there was no pressure of price tag. It’s the combination we have to look at. Rabada and Ellis played a few games together. Curran obviously will play, because he brings an all-round ability. He can bat at number 4 or 5, he bowls in all three sections of the game, so Curran will definitely play. As far as price tag is concerned, its your ability to bear pressure. Some people excel, some don’t. This is such a short format, such things (a few off days) can happen,” Jaffer said.
“Sikandar Raza will be in the scheme (on Delhi track) of things as he gives a spin bowling option and also plays spin well,” Jaffer added.
The top three run-scorers for PBKS this season have been Indians. Curran, Livingstone, and Raza follow. Even when the bowling is concerned, Arshdeep leads the way with 16 wickets at an average of 25. Ellis is a distant second with 10 wickets (at 23.3) and Curran follows with seven wickets at a pitiful average of 55.57. Rabada has played just four games, picking five wickets at 31.2.
While Punjab have un-earthed fresh Indian talent in the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Prabhsimran, their overseas players have not clicked as a group.
It is highly unlikely that they will click, heading to the final three games but worthwhile to see if they can assemble to put up a worthy performance.
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