For a highly favored team that made it to Dream11 IPL 2020, Punjab has not lived up to expectations. Coming off an eight-game winning streak from his final stint in the United Arab Emirates in 2014, the Punjab team would have hoped to remain undefeated in 2020. However, those aspirations were dampened in the opener, when Punjab lost to Delhi. in an exciting and controversial match.
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Punjab’s career at Dream11 IPL 2020 so far
Punjab’s first match at Dream11 IPL 2020 saw Mayank Agarwal record his highest score of the tournament when he made 89 of 60 deliveries. Mohammed Shami also posted a brilliant 3/15, the best of the tournament, but to no avail. A controversial short-term call from the umpires and back-to-back lands in the last over meant Punjab ended up going into a Super Over. KL Rahul’s captaincy was questioned when the fit Mayank Agarwal did not come out to bat. Punjab lost two wickets and scored just two runs in the Super Over.
Punjab came back in their next match, defeating Virat Kohli’s Bangalore by a whopping 97-run margin. KL Rahul collected 132 * out of 69 balls, the highest score in the IPL by an Indian. Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin took three wickets each to add to the victory. In their third encounter, Tewatia’s heroics stole the show and the game from Punjab, when he beat Sheldon Cottrell for five-6s in the 18th to take Rajasthan home.
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Sachin’s criticism of KL Rahul’s captaincy against Mumbai
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Unable to shake off their bad luck, Punjab suffered another bad loss to Mumbai. Cottrell gave his team a good start, firing Quinton de Kock for a duck in the first over. Powerful hitter Suryakumar Yadav also fell cheap, making just 10 runs before being knocked out by Shami. On 2/21 in four overs, Mumbai finished the innings at 191/4. Captain Rohit Sharma made a brilliant contribution of 70 runs to this total, but additional damage was done by the final duo, Pollard and Pandya.
This time, Sachin Tendulkar had something to say to KL Rahul for his decision to send spinner Krishnappa Gowtham to the final. The ‘Master Blaster’ summed up his feelings about this decision with a facepalm emoji. Gowtham gave away 25 runs, including 3 consecutive sixes in the final, allowing Pollard and Pandya to give Mumbai the boost they needed for victory. Rahul’s decision was also questioned by others. Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya’s 67 runs of 23 balls proved to be the last straw for Punjab.
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Image Credits: BCCI and KL Rahul Twitter
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