Rajasthan Royals beat the Punjab Kings by four wickets in a thrilling final over match. With this victory, RR has remained in the competition and is now ranked fifth, while PBKS is positioned eighth in the IPL Points Table.
PBKS choose to bat first their home and concluded with a decent score of 187/5 after 20 overs. The hosts were reduced to 50/4 after 6.3 overs which looked like some trouble.
Sam Curran (49* runs off 31 balls), Shahrukh Khan (41* runs off 23 balls), and Jitesh Sharma (44 runs off 28 balls) all contributed significantly to their team’s total of 187-5. For RR, the standout players with the ball were Navdeep Saini (4 – 0 – 40 – 3) and Adam Zampa (4 – 0 – 26 – 1).
RR built a solid run chase with half-centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 runs off 36 balls) and Devdutt Padikkal (51 runs off 30 balls). Shimron Hetmyer (46 runs off 28 balls) and Riyan Parag’s (20 runs off 12 balls) fast cameos kept them in contention.
RR kept losing wickets, extending the game to the last over. In the end, it was Dhruv Jurel who held his calm and secured the game with a six.
With the defeat, PBKS has exited the IPL 2023 playoff competition. The team had a mediocre season, winning six of their fourteen games. While PBKS has had numerous positives this season, the franchise has also had several significant areas of worry.
Let us look at three reasons why PBKS was eliminated from the IPL 2023:
1) Heavy reliance on Shikhar Dhawan and Liam Livingstone
PBKS relied largely on Shikhar Dhawan in the first part of the competition, and in the second half, the burden switched to Liam Livingstone to do the heavy lifting for the team.
Dhawan scored 373 runs in 11 games this season, with an average of 41.44 and a strike rate of 142.91. Initially leading the Orange Cap race, he was injured for a few games and subsequently lost his touch.
Liam Livingstone joined the team midway through the season. He hit 279 runs in nine matches, averaging 34.88 and striking at a strike rate of 163.15.
The fact that none of the PBKS batsmen were among the tournament’s top 15 run scorers damaged them considerably. Throughout the competition, players such as Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Matt Short, Sam Curran, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa shown glimpses of brilliance but were unable to consistently put up runs for the franchise.
Prabhsimran Singh was outstanding, but he too struggled with consistency, with an average of 25.57. Furthermore, PBKS’ inability to find a spot for the in-form Sikandar Raza in several matches harmed their batting depth even more.
2) Poor performance by the world class PBKS pacers.
PBKS has what was maybe the finest fast bowling offence in the competition. With fast bowlers like Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada, and Sam Curran, PBKS ere almost guaranteed a good show.
All PBKS bowlers had a dismal season. Singh, who started the season brilliantly, was blown out in the second part of the event and finished with an economy rate of 9.69.
Sam Curran was the most expensive player in the competition’s history. He too failed to live up to his price. He only took 10 wickets in 14 matches at a costly economy rate of 10.22. Rabada had an unusual season, taking 7 wickets in 6 matches at an economy of 10.08.
3) Rahul Chahar and Harpreet Brar were unable to pick wickets in the middle overs
Rahul Chahar has taken only 8 wickets this season. He bowled at a respectable economy rate of 7.75. However he did not take enough wickets in the middle overs on surfaces that aided him.
This meant that the PBKS pacers faced a lot of pressure from the opposition in the last overs, which showed up in their economy rates. Teams were eager to play off Chahar because they knew he was the biggest threat on India’s turning pitches.
Harpreet Brar also had a respectable economy rate of 8.02. He too failed to pick regular wickets in the middle overs. He took nine wickets in 13 games. He got a 4 wicket haul against DC. The failure of both of PBKS’s lead spinners was disastrous for their team.
With this, we conclude our article on three reasons why PBKS was eliminated from the IPL 2023. Do you know any other reasons? Type in the comments below.
