Dubai: Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals will be buoyed by their winning starts when they clash at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
For Punjab, it was a sensational victory over Chennai Super Kings when they made a mockery of Chennai Super Kings’ impressive total of 205 for four to announce their arrival as a formidable batting power.
Rajasthan Royals, through their last-over win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, showed that they are as good as they were under the captaincy of Rahul Dravid last year.
Their new captain Shane Watson has managed to get the best out of his players. By restricting a strong Hyderabad batting line up made up of Aaron Finch, Shikhar Dhawan, David Warner and Darren Sammy to just 133 runs is not easy. By this act, Rajasthan have sent a warning signal to all other teams with reputed hard hitting batsmen. Though Rajasthan do not have big names in their bowling attack, Dhawal Kulkarni, Kane Richardson and Rajat Bhatia can really tie down batsmen.
In fact, despite their strike bowler James Faulkner not being among the wickets, their bowling to produce such a sterling performance is really impressive. In the batting front too, they displayed their depth despite losing early wickets. Abhishek Nayar, Sanju Samson and Watson falling for single digit scores did not matter to them. With Ajinkya Rahane and Stuart Binny, the two new players in the Indian team playing superb knocks, this is also a team made up of India’s rising stars.
To resist a bowling attack led by Dale Steyn and also the Twenty20 World Cup sensation Amit Mishra speaks volumes about the strength in their batting. The Sharjah match will be a real test of their potential and if they can beat Punjab they are sure to go a long way in this tournament. Punjab have shown that they not an easy side to be subdued. Starting as underdogs against Chennai, they proved that on field they are a formidable force in all departments of the game.
By showing the enthusiasm and determination to chase a total of over 200, they have proved that they are team which is willing to accept any challenge. Twenty20 puts to test fighting spirt of all the squads and Punjab has come out with flying colours in their first match.
With a batsmen like Glenn Maxwell coming in at No. 1, Rajasthan has to pick him early to avoid the same fate as Chennai. The fact that another whirlwind batsman Virender Sehwag too is waiting for an opportunity to regain his form; they are a dangerous side if not contained early. It should also be noted that their star bowler Mitchell Johnson, who went wicketless in the first match, will also eagerly want to produce his Ashes form.
Whoever has to win will have to lift their game higher than they did in their first match.
