IPL 6: RR vs KXIP - Flops of the Day
The Kings XI Punjab suffered another batting collapse as RR skittled them out for 124 runs. Sreesanth, Cooper, Faulkner and Trivedi – all took 2 wickets each in an impressive display of bowling on a greenish top. RR then chased the score down at the back of a dashing, serene and surprisingly composed innings from Watson, Rahane and the young keeper Samson respectively.
Lets have a look at the players who failed to live up to their reputation in the game:
Rahul Dravid – a rare failure
It wasn’t a captain’s day as the ever-so-reliable Rahul Dravid failed to make an impact. He had scored 9 runs when he got a beautiful out-swinger from Praveen Kumar. Dravid edged the ball and the catch was gleefully accepted by Gilchrist behind the stumps.
Stuart Binny – hitting a trough
A lot is expected of Binny after his innings of 40 against DD in RR’s opening encounter this year. After that innings though, he has managed scores of 14 and 1 and it dipped further as he was out for a duck in this match. His batting is important for him to keep his place in the side, considering Dravid’s reluctance to use him as an all-rounder – Binny has bowled just 2 overs in his 4 matches so far.
Adam Gilchrist – A forgettable dismissal
KXIP depend a lot on him for an explosive start. For the second time in a row, he has failed to delivered. This time he couldn’t even open his account and was out off the second ball he faced. While getting out for a duck is bad in itself, the worse part of his dismissal was the way in which he got out. He made no effort to get into a position to play the good length ball from Sreesanth and his weight was still on the back foot as tried to play a lofted drive. KXIP need a better effort from their captain.
KXIP batting minus Hussey
While Gilchrist has already been singled out because he is the highest-rated star in the line-up, the truth is that it was a collective batting failure from the KXIP barring Hussey. Some of the batsmen like Azhar Mahmood, Gurkeerat and R Sathish failed to convert their starts while others like Mandeep Singh and Manpreet Vohra failed to even get one. The inexperience and pressure was evident as they took poor decisions – sometimes while executing their strokes and once while running. The final scoreboard would have looked even more embarrassing had it not been for Hussey’s innings and some down-the-order order hitting from Praveen Kumar and Mahmood.