Where Kings look to peak

The final outcome often colours the way the viewer reflects on decisions taken during the game. On Tuesday,Punjab successfully chased a target of 175 against RCB,and kept themselves alive in the race for the final playoff spot.

The final outcome often colours the way the viewer reflects on decisions taken during the game. On Tuesday,Punjab successfully chased a target of 175 against RCB,and kept themselves alive in the race for the final playoff spot. They won by seven wickets,with 11 balls left. On the surface,it was an overwhelmingly dominant show.

Punjabs management,however,will have looked a little deeper into what happened during the match. They had left out Praveen Kumar who,with 10 wickets and an economy rate of 6.87,had been among their best bowlers in the season and instead fielded Sandeep Sharma,Parvinder Awana and Manpreet Gony from among their roster of Indian pacers. The decision nearly cost Punjab the match.

For most of their innings,Bangalore scored at a nice,steady pace,as Chris Gayle bided his time and got his eye in. Gayle was on 22 off 30 balls when he hit his first six,in the 13th over of their innings. Gony was the bowler. In Gonys next over,Gayle hit him for three sixes in three balls.

In all,RCB scored 122 in their last 10 overs. Six of those overs were bowled by Gony,Awana and Sandeep,who together went for 122 in their 12 overs. The remaining eight,bowled by Azhar Mahmood and Piyush Chawla,bowlers with a little more guile about them,cost Punjab only 51. They couldve done with a little more of that ingredient in the attack,and few bowlers anywhere possess as much guile as Praveen.

Punjab now need wins from both their remaining matches. Both matches are at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala,where Englands fast bowlers found plenty of assistance during their January ODI. Temperatures at the hill station will have risen since,but conditions should still offer a bowler of Praveens kind enough encouragement.

On Thursday,Punjab will come up against Delhi,who face the prospect of hitting the bottom,after Pune drew level with them on points after beating Kolkata on Wednesday. Its hard to say how much of a difference it will make to Delhi whether they finish eighth or ninth,but any sort of extra incentive will make them dangerous opponents. Punjab,therefore,will need to pick their best eleven.