Home sweet home but trouble away from it!

After two lackluster outings, Kings XI Punjab finally managed to open their account in the IPL-5, thanks to a superb show by the bowling unit led by English all-rounder Dimitry Mascarenhas who finished with figures of 5/25 to restrict the Pune team to a meager 115 and set up an easy target for the home side.

After struggling on lifeless tracks in Jaipur and Pune, KXIP’s medium pacers found plenty of assistance on a pitch that had some grass and was livened up by overnight rain. Apart from Mascarenhas, the other seamers, Mandeep Singh, Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana, also returned with economical figures.

What would have also delighted the skipper Adam Gilchrist is the way Punjab batsmen went about the job at hand. Despite losing Paul Valthaty off the very first ball, there was a sense of calmness as the Aussie duo of Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh took control of the situation and forged an useful 50-run stand. Marsh, who made a return to the XI after sitting out in the last game, looked at ease on a pitch asking questions and quietly guided his team home with an unbeaten 54-ball 64. The IPL-1 orange cap holder has hit rough sea in his international career and would be keen to put up a good show in the IPL to strengthen his case for a comeback for Australia.

But still the big worry for the team management will be their inability to perform on slower tracks. Apart from in Mohali, it is unlikely that there would be such assistance for the medium pacers anywhere else during the IPL. Kings XI Punjab travel to Kolkata next and the wicket at Eden Gardens is expected to be a low and slow track. With the attack being largely one dimensional, comprising of slow medium pacers, the bowlers will struggle to contain the batsmen on bald wickets.

This is where the spinners in the side will need to step up and make their presence felt. There is some quality in the spin ranks in Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar but while Powar is still waiting for his first chance, Chawla has been rather flat in his performances so far.

Even in the batting department, which is largely dependent on the foreign recruits, there is no one who can be termed as an expert on slow turning tracks. As seen in the first two games, Punjab has lost most of its wickets trying to force the issue but failed due to the slowness of the track.

They also have to pay some serious attention to their batting line-up to make most of the resources they have. Slotting someone of the caliber of David Hussey low down the order hardly makes any sense. The Australian Twenty20 specialist can be sent much higher up the order where he will have a chance to assess the situation and plan the innings accordingly. He has the ability to play the role of an anchor in case of early wickets and can cut loose towards the end of the innings to propel the total to a big score.

The win against Pune will no doubt prove to be a big boost for Kings XI Punjab but their troubles are far from over. They will be up against Kolkata Knight Riders twice over the next week and unless there is a drastic improvement in their performance, the tournament will be as good as over for them by next Sunday.

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