KKR vs KXIP | Kings XI Punjab players rated and slated from their 28-run Eden loss
Kings XI Punjab lost the plot midway through their chase and ended up being on the wrong side of the result despite half-centuries by Mayank Agarwal and David Miller. On the other hand, the game gave them a chance to introspect and make some changes before they take on the field again.
KL Rahul (4/10): Match after match, KL Rahul’s chariot of bad form is moving on a terrible wheel and this match justifies it. No doubt, he is a special player but needs to find a way to come out of the mental state which is harming him more than anything else. A series of good scores can help him, but going by today’s performance, it seems very unlikely now. His keeping was impressive though, which means I gave him four instead of two.
Chris Gayle (3/10): A lot was dependant on Gayle, and the hope was there that he would fire. But Russell applied the tactics of bowling short of good length wide outside the off-stump and in a hope to pull away perfectly, he ended up giving a catch at mid-on. Anyway, he is a mercurial cricketer and you don’t expect him to give you those wins every day.
Mayank Agarwal (8.5/10): A very good innings, let me tell you. After KL Rahul’s dismissal, Agarwal had a major role to
Sarfaraz Khan (2.5/10): After a calculative
David Miller (7/10): 59* off 40 balls might not look bad on paper, but Miller’s innings could be looked at by using rose-tinted glasses. He didn’t accelerate at the right time and even though he completed his half-century, that was of no value as far as the result of the game was concerned. I am going with 7 because you can’t ignore the highest run-scorer of the team.
Mandeep Singh (6/10): Didn’t have much to do, but gave a hint that he can be a valuable member in the squad in crunch situations in the next matches. His 33 off 15 balls was a brilliant cameo and the Mohali-based franchise should
Hardus Viljoen (6/10): Those who remember the Hardus Viljoen of the 2016 South Africa-Australia match, then you might think him as an average pacer. But his IPL debut was completely different than the only international match he played and while his run rate of 9 runs per over could be held against him, give him marks for dismissing Sunil Narine who was looking very dangerous.
Ravichandran Ashwin (2/10): Hey Skipper, what were you doing? Let’s address the terrible captaincy first. With two pinch-hitters around, why would you throw the ball to a rookie? It was not that difficult a decision to make and to go with his unimpressive bowling made him one of the villains in the game.
Varun Chakravarthy (6/10): After conceding 25 runs in his first over, Chakravarthy had a major redemption song to sing and he did that to an extent after that. Only 10 runs in the next two overs and even managed to dismiss Nitish Rana so as to make sure that he didn’t have the
Mohammed Shami (4.5/10): First three overs was a pacer’s dream spell but a last over scathing put all his good performances to the dustbin. By conceding 26 runs in the last over, he not only made himself look like a kid in front of Russell but also took all the hope from Punjab fans. Not a fair representation of his form or performance, but then again you need to shoulder the responsibility well.
Andrew Tye (4/10): Knuckleballs were coming out nicely and his slower ball was a very good weapon for the team, on which the Australian has based his on. The problem for Tye that he couldn’t do that consistently, letting runs flow towards the end. With Andre Russell clearly struggling against incoming deliveries, Tye did little to exploit that.
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