It was yet another ‘nearly’ season for the Punjab Kings, who missed out on qualification yet again, as they finished sixth on the Indian Premier League 2022 points table. It has been a case of undesirable consistency for the Mayank Agarwal-led side, who have finished sixth every season for the last four years.
They have qualified for the playoffs only twice, well behind all the other teams in that respect. As has generally been the case with PBKS, they had a good start to the season, and some brilliant performances from time to time, but they lacked the consistency, which cost them the playoff spots. The Kings will particularly rue a couple of close games that they lost, like their match against Gujarat Titans, where a miraculous finish from Rahul Tewatia pulled his side out of the woods with two sixes off the last two deliveries to register a famous victory.
Going into the season, many pundits and fans alike tipped Punjab to be the strongest side, after doing good business in the mega auctions. The Kings assembled one of the most power-packed sides, including Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, and Liam Livingstone.
They also had quite the bowling line-up as well, with Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh. Despite having the team, yet again, PBKS failed to play consistently as a unit.
“There are a lot of positives for us. The way Livingstone batted, Dhawan played well. Bairstow since the time he started to open. If we go out there and play the kind of cricket we play, we can do well in the next season.
We couldn’t stitch two back-to-back wins. We lost wickets in a cluster, and that at times derailed us. We have played an aggressive brand of cricket overall. We are going to sit and discuss now after the IPL.”
Agarwal said after the Kings’ final.
However, the franchise will hope that this was just a one-off and will definitely look forward to doing well in the seasons to come, especially with the kind of talent they have at their disposal.
