IPL 2022 Season Review: New edition, but same old story for Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings (PBKS) endured another season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with another league stage exit, as a first playoffs spot since their 2014 season (when they reached final) still eludes them after eight years.

A new captain in Mayank Agarwal had taken over PBKS duties after the departure of KL Rahul to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), but despite the captaincy change, there was no change of fortunes. Much like previous seasons, it was so close, yet so far for Punjab Kings as they finished in sixth place (again) with 14 points.

PBKS ended level on points with fifth-placed Delhi Capitals (DC), who surrendered their own playoffs spot to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) following a defeat to Mumbai Indians (MI).

Here, we take a look at how PBKS have fared this season:

Dhawan, Livingstone shine but Agarwal fails with bat

The likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Liam Livingstone clicked when it mattered the most for the Punjab Kings. Both Dhawan (460 runs) and Livingstone (437) ended up as PBKS’ top two run-getters, and more importantly, Livingstone showed his worth of Rs 11.5 crore(the price Punjab Kings acquired him for) with some consistent displays with the bat that included four fifties.

This IPL was equally important for Dhawan, who has once again made a case for the Indian team ahead of the T20 World Cup, after being snubbed last year when the tournament was held in the UAE.

On the contrary, a risky batting approach hurt Punjab Kings the most. Mayank Agarwal had a forgettable run with the bat in his first season as Punjab Kings skipper. England’s Jonny Bairstow, meanwhile, endured a shaky run, with four single-figure scores and just two fifties. As a result, Bairstow notched up just 253 runs off 11 matches at an average of 23.

Bairstow is synonymous in the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), but in his first season at PBKS, apart from a couple of occasions, he was unable to reinvent the magic with the bat he used to with SRH.

Much like Livingstone’s efforts with bat, 28-year-old Jitesh Sharma’s efforts behind the wickets was another silver-lining in another tough season for Punjab Kings. Jitesh registered nine catches and two stumpings in 12 matches, and was almost clinical behind the wickets at times. He’s showed what he is capable of, and it is safe to say that Punjab Kings have invested in a trusty wicketkeeper in Jitesh, who stole more limelight for his belligerent hitting lower down the order. In Jitesh, Punjab have found an experienced domestic wicketkeeper-batsman who can do the job under pressure.

Skipper Mayank had one of his forgettable seasons with the bat for Punjab Kings, scoring just 196 runs from 13 games, and much will be expected from the skipper next season. Agarwal used to relish batting with KL Rahul in the previous seasons, and it will be paramount that he leads by example next season yet again.

Inconsistency in winning games

Victories on the trot lacked Punjab Kings big time. Despite notching up seven wins and remaining in contention for the playoffs for a large part of the league stage, PBKS failed to win consecutive games. Winning two or more consecutive games in a long tournament like the IPL is paramount to gather momentum, and PBKS in fact lacked that momentum.

The first match against RCB in itself was an example. The PBKS bowlers leaked runs as RCB powered to 205 after they batted first, and although the likes of Dhawan (43) and Rajapaksa (43) got them going, Shahrukh Khan (25) and Odean Smith (24) had their task cut out to complete the chase, which by no means, was a comfortable task.

In the next match against KKR, their batters completely lacked momentum as Punjab were bowled out for just 137. Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s 31 was their top-score, and it was only until a matter of time until KKR completed the chase.

This win-then-lose trend continued for Punjab, even losing consecutive matches to SRH and DC at one stage in April.

Shahrukh and Odean’s failures

One match that slipped away from PBKS’ 2022 season was Match 16 of the tournament between Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings. Once again, it was Livingstone (64) and Shikhar Dhawan (35) who stood up for Punjab to take them to 189/9.

But Punjab’s bowlers were far from perfect. Each one of them endured economy rate of over seven, with Odean Smith (0/35) enduring the worst of economy rates for Punjab in that game (11.70).

Odean had bowled two overs by the time the chase approached the midway mark, and leaked just 16 runs from those two albeit without a wicket.

Come the 20^th over, he was tasked with defending 19 runs from one over. But, it was just not meant to be.

GT suffered a setback at the start of the 20^th with Hardik Pandya being run-out, but the next batter who walked in was Rahul Tewatia, and he got off the mark with a single. With Miller collecting a four and a single off the next two deliveries, the equation was pretty simple for the Titans (12 off 2), but a challenging one for Punjab.

Odean Smith then unleashed two on-the-slot deliveries looking to trouble Tewatia, but Tewatia was in no mood to give up and hammered two sixes to finish the game off.

Smith did go onto registered figures of 4/30 against MI in the next game, but lack of opportunities in the second half of the tournament meant Smith would finish with just six wickets from as many games.

Much was expected from Shahrukh Khan this season from Punjab Kings, but things did not go out the way he would have expected.

A string of low scores with the bat and failure to convert starts into big ones hurt Shahrukh the most. His highest score all season was 26 against SRH in April and after the game against DC on 20 April, chances were limited for Shahrukh.

He had not got a chance to prove himself until 22 May against SRH, but then too he was dismissed for just 19.

The role of a finisher has been synonymous with Shahrukh Khan over the last couple of years but this year, the Tamil Nadu big-hitter even fell short in producing valuable runs, leave alone finishing games.

Across eight games this season, Shahrukh managed just 117 runs at an average of 16.71, and it’s safe to say that with a price tag of Rs 9 crore at the IPL 2022 auctions, Shahrukh has just not yet justified it, and has a long way to go.

Season verdict

Falling short of the playoffs have been a routine for PBKS ever since making the finals in 2014. This time, too, it was the same story.

Yes, Shikhar Dhawan and Liam Livingstone had the best of tournaments for Punjab with the bat, but the others will also need to step up and perform as a collective unit. Kagiso Rabada (23 wickets) ended up as the highest wicket-taker, but Arshdeep Singh (10 wickets) proved his worth as well. Punjab have certainly found future stars like Arshdeep and Jitesh Sharma.

What will have to improve is Punjab’s batting. Punjab were reliant on one or two batters almost throughout the tournament, and others, like captain Mayank himself, will have to step up come what may.

Mayank and Bairstow’s lack of good form hurt the Kings too much, and had they won on a consistent basis, things would have been different and probably, PBKS might have made the playoffs.

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