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It was on March 23 that the newly-built Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium in Mullanpur hosted its first Indian Premier League (IPL) game that also gave the home team Punjab Kings a victorious start to their campaign. Sixteen days later, Mullanpur hosts its second game and PBKS’ fifth this season. Both PBKS and Sunrisers Hyderabad are in the same position — two wins in four games.
The young duo of Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma, who won them the last game against all odds against Gujarat Titans, may have given PBKS a fresh lease of life. They look more positive now with young Indian talent holding the batting together. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan would also need to get his top order making their starts count. It’s in their batting that PBKS look vulnerable so this phase of IPL will test their resources.
SRH, who stamped their authority against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the last game, are coming into this game with a well-balanced line-up and looking to build-up on the confidence gained by posting the highest total in IPL history of 277 against Mumbai Indians. They have been intimidating in their batting approach from ball one.
Left-handed batter Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram have ripped apart bowling attacks and given SRH ideal starts. Sharma in particular has been phenomenal. Known for his big shots for Punjab in the domestic circuit, the Amritsar-born cricketer has excelled at the top of the order. Having hogged the limelight at U-16 and U-19 levels with Shubman Gill in the state team, Sharma’s career has not panned out the way he would have wanted.
From being the U-19 Asia Cup-winning captain to being dropped in two Ranji Trophy games last season, from being part of the U-19 World Cup-winning team to being stripped of Punjab captaincy, Sharma had a tumultuous last season.
But at SRH, Sharma found then chief coach Brian Lara’s backing. With Yuvraj Singh as his mentor, Sharma has this IPL season to establish himself again.
Sharma would be looking to use the momentum to his advantage and go big against PBKS bowlers. His 12-ball 37 against CSK and 23-ball 63 versus MI shows his T20 batting prowess and also the kind of mindset the 23-year-old is in. His habit of throwing away his wicket after a quick start used to be his undoing, but he seems to be overcoming that.
PBKS bank on Shikhar Dhawan and their foreign players – Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone (if fit) and Jonny Bairstow. Punjab would be aware of how SRH’s bowling is their weak link and they will have to exploit that if they are to win again at home.
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