Punjab Kings finished 5th in the IPL 2021 points table after a dominating win against CSK in their last game. The Kings managed to win 6 games in their 14 IPL outings this season. KL Rahul-led side surely had massive potential to make it to the playoffs but they majorly lacked in many sections of the game. Let’s go back to Match 32 of the VIVO IPL 2021 to point out Punjab’s inefficiency this season. PBKS required 3 runs in the last over with 6 wickets in hand and RR managed to defend it. It just shows how the side lacked the much-required caliber and quality to make it to the finishing line this season. Here you can know What Went Wrong For PBKS in IPL 2021.
What Went Wrong For PBKS in IPL 2021
- Bad Picks In The Auction
The rejuvenated Punjab Kings entered the IPL 2021 auction with the biggest wallet of 52 crores to spend. However, Preity Zinta and Co. made some most bizarre buys of the season. Zinta jumped with excitement when Punjab managed to get hold of batsman Shah Rukh Khan in the auction, purely because the name resembled his most famous onscreen partner. Punjab Kings bought Jhye Richardson for a sum of 14 crores. Adding to that, Punjab spent 8 crores for Riley Meredith. Both the Australian pacers failed to live up to their price tag.
2. Poor middle-order performance
Punjab Kings had a dominating opening pair of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul. PBKS skipper KL Rahul is currently the Orange Cap holder as the Indian wicketkeeper has scored 626 runs in the season. While Punjab had an engine of a “Ferrari”, they had a body of a “Fiat”. The entire team relied on the shoulders of Mayank and Rahul. After that, it was a flop-show from all the middle-order batsmen, including Chris Gayle and No.1 T20I batsman David Malan. PBKS’ middle-order failed to be consistent, which was one of the main reasons behind their downfall.
3. Weak Captaincy
Although there is no doubt in Rahul’s caliber when it comes to batting, the 29-year-old still lacks the quality to be a solid skipper. Rahul displayed weakness while captaining the Punjab side. One of the biggest mistakes Rahul made was to show constant faith in Nicolas Pooran. For whatever reason, Rahul just couldn’t drop the West Indian, who was severely out of form throughout the tournament. Rahul could have tried to rope the likes of Shah Rukh Khan or Sarfaraz Khan instead of Pooran, but the West Indian remained in the side despite back-to-back poor stints.
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