The mixture of traditions that IPL concocts regularly gave us a new twist in this season where we witnessed the South Indian cricketer Ravi Ashwin heading a North Indian team Kings XI Punjab. The lack of silverware in the team cupboard was denting the pride of Owners and they tried their best to have a great auction. After a stunning beginning, Punjab has been stopped in its strides.
The contrast in the performance of the team is clearly visible. Before they embarked on the week-long break, KXIP had won five out of their seven matches and in a dominating fashion. After they break they have lost four and won only one. Now they need to win both their remaining matches to stay in contention for the playoffs.
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Tonight (16th May) Kings XI Punjab will take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. Speaking to the media after the loss against RCB in the last match, KXIP captain downplayed his team and said that they were never one of the champion sides. He, in fact, said that the wins were a result of KXIP punching above their weight.
Ashwin said, “We aren’t one of the top champion sides to be very honest, we are one of those sides that punched above our weight in the first half of the competition. To be very precise, I did expect to find ourselves in such a situation, but not this much; probably thought we might have won one or two more games and probably reached 14 or 16 points.”
Not losing hope, Ashwin expressed that almost all the teams except CSK and SRH are in a similar position now and winning the remaining two matches is all that will be on his mind. He said,”“It’s very important to forget these 12 games and look forward to the remaining two. Most teams are in the same situation now – except for CSK and SRH (needing to win their last two matches). I believe we can be very dangerous at such times. Desperate teams can be dangerous to beat.”
Kings XI Punjab after the match against Mumbai Indians will travel to Pune to play their last match versus Chennai Super Kings.
