What Went Wrong For PBKS in IPL 2023?

image-lhyzo4x1Punjab Kings (Source: BCCI/IPL)

The same old story continued for the Punjab Kings (PBKS) this season after they ended up at eighth place losing eight of their 14 matches despite being a solid unit that boasted of some firepower. The experience was never the problem, the actual issue was they never gelled well as a unit to perform under tough circumstances.

Punjab's season was going well until the final stage when they lost four out of their last five matches crumbling under pressure in tense situations. Let's have a look at what went wrong for them this season:

What Went Wrong For PBKS:

1. Consistent Chopping and Changing

Kings never believed in the idea of playing a similar eleven in the tournament, they always managed to change the combination on multiple occasions either due to conditions or forced ones due to injury concerns. Shikhar Dhawan got injured mid-way through the tournament and was replaced by Sam Curran as captain.

Apart from this, Sikandar Raza has managed to win them a couple of games but was dropped in a few games for no apparent reason and it caused the team to lose their balance in different cases. Harpreet Brar and even Atharva Taide were rotated alongside Rishi Dhawan who were not given a consistent run in the tournament.

2. Big Ticket Players Failed to Perform

Another potential reason for their loss is the downfall of their superstars Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada's form. Initially,  Dhawan was going well with the bat but lost his touch after recovering from injury. However, Rabada looked like a shadow of himself throughout the season as he wasn't able to bag wickets and went for plenty of runs.

Even Sam Curran to some extent wasn't value for his money which did PBKS badly as they weren't able to capitalise. Also, Arshdeep Singh did earn some big wickets and won them games but when he didn't, he was expensive as his economy rate touched 13.


3. Dhawan's Bizzare Tactics

Some captaincy decisions turned out to be tactical blunders as they hurt them badly with some of them not being justified at all. One of them was bowling left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar in the final over against left-arm batter Rilee Rossouw in the final over which cost them 23 runs and hence, the game against Delhi Capitals.

Dhawan also didn't utilise Brar to his full effect which is a huge problem because at times he was left underutilised. Further, they were not able to get the full potential out of many talents as not showing trust in them backfired.

4. Lack of Off-Spinners in the Setup

Dhawan himself mentioned on multiple occasions about the team's major weakness about lacking an off-spinner. They had Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar but they weren't off-spinners alongside Sikandar Raza and Liam Livingstone who weren't actually asked to bowl on a regular basis.

Adding to this, the spin woes was one of their major struggle as they weren't able to reduce the run rate during middle-overs on various occasions.