KINGS XI Punjab have become the favourite whipping boys of the IPL this season – much like KKR last year – but they were not such a bad team earlier. At the half-way stage, Punjab have lost six of their seven matches. Their solitary win too came in a fortuitous manner, where CSK gifted them the match. Is it sheer bad luck that Kings XI are losing most of their matches in IPL III? Or, are they paying the price of some bad decisions taken earlier this season?
Actually, Kings XI have really taken some very bad decisions this season. When all the other franchisees were busy bidding for the likes of Keiron Pollard, Shane Bond and Kemar Roach, (before the start of season III when they were allowed to spend $ 750,000 each on bidding) Kings XI – in an incredibly ludicrous decision – bought Mohd Kaif for $ 250,000. Now, this one seems straight out of Ripley’s believe-it-or-not. Their team of experts goes all the way to Mumbai for the bidding and then (of all the players) bids for Kaif for this ridiculous figure. The results are there for everybody to see. Kaif flopped badly in the first five matches and for the last two games he has also been dropped from the 16. After spending more than 10 million rupees for one season on the domestic player, Punjab cannot even fit him into the side.
This was folly number one. Now let’s come to folly number two.
After being granted amnesty by the Board, ICL players were allowed back into the fold this season. There were a lot of talented players up for grabs but who do Punjab pick? Surprise, surprise… Reetinder Singh Sodhi.
Royals have wisely grabbed Jhunjhunwala, MI have sensibly gone for Rayudu and Sathish etc. But King’s XI have reportedly paid Rs 1.6 million to Sodhi for one season and Sodhi has not played a single game so far. So, why have they gone for Sodhi in the first place if they don’t want to play him? The other ICL recruit in the Punjab team Sulabh Srivastava has also not done anything worthwhile so far. So who advises Kings XI on cricketing matters? (If it can be called cricketing advise at all, that is.)
Alongwith Kaif at the auction, Kings XI also bid for Yusuf Abdullah but Abdullah has not even played one game so far. So, why bid for Abdullah if you don’t intend to play him?
And then came the biggest bloomer of replacing Yuvraj as captain. Once you make Sangakarra the skipper, it means Mahela Jayawardene will not be dropped even if he keeps on failing (as has been the case so far). And that Yuvraj will sulk and underperform. So, you are creating two problems with one stroke.
Jayawardene was even made captain for the last game (vs MI) but he failed with the bat yet again. And he does not bowl or keep wickets. So, his main job is to score runs and he has not done his main job for seven matches now. But, he continues to be in the team. Even lead the side. Who gives cricketing advice to this franchisee?
RCB made some dumb decisions in the first season until Mallya realized he was being taken for a ride and cracked the whip. The team is back on track now. MI invested in redundant support staff in the first two seasons (like Sameer Dighe, Lalchand Rajput etc) and paid the price. They have now taken some right decisions and the results are showing. Shah Rukh Khan gave such a long rope to John Buchanan last season that the team reached its nadir. SRK has since learnt his lesson and now the team is headed in the right direction.
So, in this highly competitive environment it is not only important to have money and bid for a team. It is equally important to know your cricket so that you are not taken for a ride. Otherwise, you will find out things the hard way after making a lot of dud investments. Like Bono did in the US.
