IPL 6: RR vs KXIP - Flops of the Day

The Kings XI Punjab suffered another batting collapse as RR skittled them out for 124 runs. Sreesanth, Cooper, Faulkner and Trivedi – all took 2 wickets each in an impressive display of bowling on a greenish top. RR then chased the score down at the back of a dashing, serene and surprisingly composed innings from Watson, Rahane and the young keeper Samson respectively.

Lets have a look at the players who failed to live up to their reputation in the game:

Rahul Dravid – a rare failure

Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid in action during the match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on April 14, 2013.

It wasn’t a captain’s day as the ever-so-reliable Rahul Dravid failed to make an impact. He had scored 9 runs when he got a beautiful out-swinger from Praveen Kumar. Dravid edged the ball and the catch was gleefully accepted by Gilchrist behind the stumps.

Stuart Binny – hitting a trough

A lot is expected of Binny after his innings of 40 against DD in RR’s opening encounter this year. After that innings though, he has managed scores of 14 and 1 and it dipped further as he was out for a duck in this match. His batting is important for him to keep his place in the side, considering Dravid’s reluctance to use him as an all-rounder – Binny has bowled just 2 overs in his 4 matches so far.

Adam Gilchrist – A forgettable dismissal

KXIP depend a lot on him for an explosive start. For the second time in a row, he has failed to delivered. This time he couldn’t even open his account and was out off the second ball he faced. While getting out for a duck is bad in itself, the worse part of his dismissal was the way in which he got out. He made no effort to get into a position to play the good length ball from Sreesanth and his weight was still on the back foot as tried to play a lofted drive. KXIP need a better effort from their captain.

KXIP batting minus Hussey

A dismal performance by the KXIP batting line-up

While Gilchrist has already been singled out because he is the highest-rated star in the line-up, the truth is that it was a collective batting failure from the KXIP barring Hussey. Some of the batsmen like Azhar Mahmood, Gurkeerat and R Sathish failed to convert their starts while others like Mandeep Singh and Manpreet Vohra failed to even get one. The inexperience and pressure was evident as they took poor decisions – sometimes while executing their strokes and once while running. The final scoreboard would have looked even more embarrassing had it not been for Hussey’s innings and some down-the-order order hitting from Praveen Kumar and Mahmood.