Has the sensational run chase against KKR revitalised Punjab Kings’ season, or was it a flash in the pan?
Jonny Bairstow stormed back into form with a brutal 45-ball century as the Kings chased down 261 with eight balls to spare with brilliant support from Shashank Singh to just about keep their IPL season alive, but they need to continue improving if they wish to do anything in this year’s tournament, starting away at CSK.
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CSK vs Punjab Kings Indians Tips and Predictions
Ruturaj Gaikwad & Jonny Bairstow to hit 3+ 4s each
Bairstow had had a tough tournament prior to being dropped with just 96 runs in six knocks, but his unbeaten 108 was everything we know about Bairstow - brutal hitting aligned with a sense of determination to prove himself.
He was reliant on Prabhsimran Singh to get them off to a flier, meaning Bairstow could take his time to assess the conditions but now he has that confidence behind him we think he could be a dangerous asset for the rest of the tournament.
He hit eight fours and nine sixes in his 48-ball knock and will come out desperate to prove it wasn’t a one-off, while Ruturaj Gaikwad, his opposing opener looks to have really found his groove this season.
Gaikwad has scored of 108* and 98 in his last two matches and could consider himself unlucky not to be more seriously considered for India’s T20 World Cup squad. Another decent knock here and he will overtake Virat Kohli in the race for the Orange Cap.
Shashank Singh to hit 3+ sixes
Shashank has been one of the stories of the IPL, having appeared to have been mistakenly acquired during the IPL auction.
After bidding for him, Punjab Kings appeared to deliberate with the auctioneer and queried the identity of the player they had bid on (there was another Shashank Singh in the auction), suggesting they had gone for the wrong one only to clarify it later on on X/Twitter in an attempt to save face.
Nevertheless, Shashank has been a player reborn this season despite having no real record in the IPL beforehand.
With 263 runs in nine innings, an average of 65.75, a strike-rate of 182 and 18 sixes so far largely batting down the order, he has been a revelation and his knock against KKR of 68 off 28 (two fours, eight sixes) was a real display of six-hitting.
Expect him to come out full of confidence and looking to go big.
Gaikwad to score 30+, Bairstow and Dube 20+, Harshal 1+ wickets
Gaikwad and Bairstow head into the form in great form as we have already discussed, so the third batter in this selection is Dhivam Dube, who was recently selected as part of India’s T20 World Cup squad.
Dube has shown remarkable improvements in his game since joining CSK and has real clarity about his role, which is essentially to go in and target the spin.
That would be doing his all-round game a disservice though, with 350 runs at a SR of 172 proof of an improving all-round game and a tally of 24 fours and 26 sixes is evidence of his brutality with the bat.
Despite going for 261 against KKR, the bowling has been one of the strengths for Punjab Kings so far this season and Harshal with 14 wickets is a big part of that.
He tends to pick a lot of wickets up at the death so he will fancy getting at least one to his name on Wednesday.
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