It was not a stuff of the team that was harbouring hopes of making it to the playoffs. It was not the stuff of the team that had clawed their way back into the race of playoffs race with 4 wins in their last 5 games. After a lukewarm start to the season that saw them winning just three games in the first half of the season, Kings XI Punjab made a remarkable turnaround and needed a win against Rising Pune Supergiant in their final group game to make it to the last four.
However, their season came to an end in a disastrous fashion as they were bowled out for a paltry 73 to lose the must-win game by nine wickets. Furious with the horror display, Virender Sehwag, the KXIP director of cricket operations, directly blamed the overseas players for the humiliating defeat.
“I’m very disappointed,” Sehwag said in the post-match press conference. “I can say that none of the foreign players took responsibility and at least played 12 to 15 overs. Their role was at least one of the top four should bat for 12 to 15 overs, but none of the batsmen took the responsibility.
After being asked to bat first, the finalists of 2014 were 32 for 5 in the Powerplay, with all four of their foreign recruits- Martin Guptill, Eoin Morgan, Shaun Marsh and the captain Glenn Maxwell having returned to the hut. Marsh was the top-scorer among them with 10, Morgan scored 4 while Guptill and Maxwell even failed to open their account. The Kings XI never recovered from those early setbacks and were eventually bowled out for their lowest total in the IPL.
“I think they were complaining that the wicket was a bit slow but when you play international cricket so much, you should get used to playing on difficult or good wickets. There are very rare occasions when you get a good wicket to bat on but whatever wicket you get, you have to play at least 20 overs for your side. But Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Guptill and Morgan [were all disappointing],” Sehwag added.
The former India cricketer further said that he did not mind Guptill’s first-ball dismissal but expressed his disappointment over Maxwell and Marsh’s failures to hold the innings together.
“Guptill’s role was to cash in during the Powerplay and [the other opener] Wriddhiman Saha’s was to just bat around with him,” Sehwag said. “So I don’t mind him getting out on the first or second ball as long as he knows what he’s doing. There’s no point blaming him; I should rather blame the other batsmen.
“Even Marsh, his role was to play till 10-12 overs, but the way he got out was disappointing and then Maxwell and Morgan, these are the experienced players… I mean the players who got out had been informing the next batsman that it’s a slow wicket and even then if you throw away wickets, it means that you’re not up for the game.”
The Punjab-based franchise appointed Maxwell as the captain for this season even though he did not have any experience of leading a side at the highest stage of the game. The Australian batsman managed 310 runs in 13 innings with an average of 31.
“We always knew that when Maxwell fires, then he can win the match on his own,” Sehwag said. “But he didn’t fire in eight or nine games. That is a big disappointment, especially since he’s experienced, having played for Australia’s Test and ODI teams. He didn’t take the responsibility as a captain and didn’t perform for Kings XI Punjab.”
Sehwag also said that his team missed its opening batsman Hashim Amla. The South Africa batsman left for his country after the game against Gujarat Lions on May 7 to practice for the ODI series against England and the ICC Champions Trophy. In 10 matches that he played, he amassed 420 runs with the help of two centuries.
“We missed Hashim Amla, for sure,” Sehwag said. “The kind of consistency he showed, none of the other players could do that, an individual couldn’t take responsibility. Saha played one [good] innings, Manan Vohra played one innings but apart from that none of the others played responsibly.
Praising Amla for his brilliant performance this season, Sehwag urged the other players to learn from the Protea star.
“He [Amla] is an experienced player and has played more than 100 Test matches and averages close to 50 in Test cricket and also one-day cricket. He knows how to score runs immaterial of the format. And he takes very few risks. Whatever risks he takes, it is always after 12 or 15 overs, when he knows that he has completed his role and there’s a need to score quick runs. Otherwise, for the first 10 overs he takes less risks and remains on 30-40 and converts them into big scores. The two hundreds that he scored were brilliant. The other players in the team have a lot to learn from Hashim Amla, be it international players or Indian,” Sehwag concluded.