MI vs KXIP | Player Ratings - KL Rahul century goes in vain as Kings XI Punjab bowlers hand their team a loss against Mumbai Indians

04/10/2019

KL Rahul struck what possibly could be this IPL’s purest century, but on the face of Kieron Pollard’s onslaught, it all ended in despair. The bowlers, especially Ankit Rajpoot, was not up to the mark and despite having the game under control for most parts, Kings XI Punjab lost by three wickets.

KL Rahul(10/10): If you are a medium pacer and want to sit on the IPL train for a fairytale ride, just wait and find yourself a different bogie, because there is a chance KL Rahul will catch you. His innings had finesse and power at the same time, and when he took Hardik Pandya for 23 runs on first five balls of the 19th over, it felt, at least for me, like redemption. Class act.

Chris Gayle (8/10): “A punch should stay like a treasure in the sleeve. It should not be used indiscriminately.” Chotoku Kyan would well have said that for Gayle and he wouldn’t have been any farther from the statement. Just when me and my colleague Anirudh were having a discussion on how the big-hitting Jamaican has lost his mojo and the England series was nothing but an aberration, Christopher Henry Gayle made us eat our words by clobbering Jason Behrendorff for a six over long-on. This is what Gayle does to you - I am, now, at a loss for words.

David Miller (3/10): There have been method actors, who immerse themselves in the craft and bring the best out of him, cue- Ranveer Singh a.k.a Alauddin Khalji in the movie Padmavaat. There have also been actors, who dedicate themselves to the director, and let them explore his character to come forward as the best - a Ranbir Kapoor wouldn’t be too far-fetched from it. David Miller was surely not the latter kind and as he failed to read the script laid bare in front of him and came forward with a blank character. No imagination and not even the push for better performance.

Karun Nair (2/10): With Mayank Agarwal not playing due to an injury, Nair was given a chance, but if you bank on one player not to live up to the trust, it has to be Karun Nair. Otherwise, how would you explain someone hitting a cross-batted swing, almost like a sweep, and still skied it up with a thick top-edge. Absolutely unnecessary.

Sam Curran (3/10): Two fours on the first two balls he faced and back to the pavilion on the next. Cameo should briefly rename itself as “Curraneo”. Well, that was a bad attempt at a pun, but Curran, with the ball in his hand, weaved magic in his first over. What happened after that was just pure Calypso power and there was hardly anything the Englishman could do.

Mandeep Singh (6/10): Pretty much like Curran, Mandeep showed the glimpses with a fine square cut in his three-ball innings. While that was good enough of a contribution, as usual, he was very good on the field as well, saving a lot of runs at deep extra cover and mid-wicket.

Sarfaraz Khan (5/10): For the second game in a row, Khan was on all readiness and looked as “intense” as ever, and it is a shame that Punjab made a collective effort not to give him a chance again. What more could he do in such a situation? Sit on the sideline and enjoy the show like the rest of us.

Ravichandran Ashwin(3/10): It was his worst match figure in the current IPL season, and it is easy to guess that it came at Wankhede, one of the most batting friendly wickets in India. However, a T20 performance is always judged on the basis of the scorecard and Ravichandran Ashwin would not be too pleased with his.

Hardus Viljoen (3/10): The South African T20 freelancer is not taking the IPL stage for granted and his effort was the proof. But boy, had effort been the major keyword here, then Jacques Kallis would’ve been a T20 superstar. By not backing it up with regular change of pace and variations, Viljoen ensured yet another bad outing for him. 0/34 are not the numbers of a player who has lasted long in the IPL.

Mohammed Shami (9/10): Excellent would be an understatement for the way Shami bowled tonight. Nipped the ball in, asked the batsmen questions about their flick abilities and ended up with a figure of 3 for 21 in his quota of overs. Kind of performances people think in dreams.

Ankit Rajpoot(1/10): It was a batting-friendly wicket and Rajpoot should have understood from Rahul’s batting earlier in the evening. However, instead of dragging his length back to resort to the defensive method, the UP pacer rather employed the pitching it up strategy, and ended up giving away 52 runs 4 overs and eventually became one of the biggest flops in the game.