5 reasons why KXIP have failed this year

3. Mitchell Johnson’s horror run

Out of form Mitchell Johnson

Mitchell Johnson was a shadow of what he was last year. From 17 wickets at an economy of 8.2, Johnson came down to 9 wickets in 9 games at bowling average of 37 with an economy of 9.37.

He was getting clobbered by batsmen who were not exactly in prime form until KXIP happened to them, Parthiv Patel being a classic example. Johnson’s bad form this year left Sandeep Sharma without a sparring partner and it is common knowledge that fast bowlers hunt in pairs.

While Sharma managed to create pressure in the first half of the IPL, he hardly had someone to exploit that pressure from the other end.

4. The bowling disaster

KXIP had three bowlers in the top 10 wicket-takers in 2014. Sandeep Sharma, Axar Patel, and Mitchell Johnson had 19, 18 and 17 wickets respectively with Axar Patel boasting of a fabulous economy rate of 6.13.

They occupied positions 5 to 7 on the wicket-takers’ list. Rishi Dhawan and LakshmipathyBalaji had 13 and 12 wickets coming at positions 16 and 20 respectively. In stark contrast KXIP had just three bowlers in the top 20 wicket takers this year - Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma and Axar Patel at No 13, No 15 and No 19 respectively with just 15, 13 and 13 wickets each.

Johnson was at No 32 with 9 wickets. Interestingly, KXIP persisted with Johnson for 9 games, by then their campaign was over. He could have played a lot less considering his bad form – another tactical blunder by KXIP.

5. Confusion in batting order

KXIP had a confused battling line-up

There were numerous blunders that led to KXIP’s dismal performance this year. While it is hard to predict the winning strategy or winning combination, it is sometimes foolish to continue with something that isn’t working.

Shaun Marsh managed to win KXIP a game on his own but didn’t do well in the next three games. That is all he got though - 4 games. Maxwell, on the other hand, got a really long run in spite of his terrible form. The gamble of persisting with Maxwell didn’t pay-off just like the gamble with Johnson in the bowling department didn’t.

That was not all. Murali Vijay was getting starts without converting them, while Sehwag, his opening partner was clearly out of touch, managing 99 runs in eight games. Vohra got seven games in which he managed just 82 runs.

So, KXIP had two openers who were chopped and changed and neither fired. It is a mystery as to why Saha wasn’t promoted in spite of doing well and why Vohra wasn’t tried earlier on in spite of being one of the better players in last year’s squad. RCB turned their fortunes around by promoting AB de Villiers to No 3.

KXIP never tried sending their best batsman David Miller higher up, not once. Rishi Dhawan got just five games and ThisaraPerera two. In other words, the few changes KXIP tried didn’t fire and that pretty much stopped them from being flexible and going for all-out changes.

In cricket, confidence is everything. When things went well, KXIP did everything perfectly on the field too. This year, the number of heists they managed came down, the number of brilliant catches in the outfield came down and so did the number of runs they saved on the field. It was hard to envisage them anywhere other than at the bottom with those kind of performances!