IPL 2021: Did Punjab Kings miss a trick by paying high bucks for Aussie pacers?
The Punjab Kings came into the 2021 IPL auction hoping to get their issues fixed. They needed an overseas fast-bowler. Everyone knew they would go big for an overseas pacer. But they came back from the auction with two overseas pacers instead. They bought Jhye Richardson for INR 14 crores and Riley Meredith for INR 8 crores.
The auction strategy
At that time, it seemed slightly absurd that Punjab had spent almost one-fourth of their total purse size for just two pacers. That too, both these pacers were inexperienced bowlers as well. Neither of them has previously played in the IPL, and Richardson was only one among the two who had played in Indian conditions. Yet, these two were going to be important faces of a franchise that is desperate to at least make it to the playoffs this time.
This brings us to the reason why Punjab shelled out so much money. It was mainly due to the performances of Richardson and Meredith in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2020-21. Richardson finished as the leading wicket-taker with 29 scalps in 16 matches in the BBL. On the other hand, Meredith was amongst the wickets as well. He was nowhere close to the top five wicket-takers but made a mark by scalping 16 wickets in 13 matches.
Say Hi to Jhye! ?♂️
Who takes wickets for fun, our newly recruited Richardson! ?#SaddaPunjab #PunjabKings pic.twitter.com/Hi7xpHLp8F
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) February 19, 2021
Performance in IPL 2021
Punjab started with both the players in their first XI of IPL 2021. The ploy didn’t work. Before getting dropped in the fourth match, Richardson took three wickets in three innings, but leaked runs at an economy rate of 10.64. Meredith took only two wickets in the same number of innings but also went at 10.50 runs per over. So, what has really gone wrong for these two gentlemen?
This could be partly because they played all their three matches in Mumbai. At the Wankhede Stadium, bowlers haven’t had a lot of fun bowling. In almost every match, the wicket has been true, and the batsmen had a field day. And Wankhede has always been like this, but Punjab never played three consecutive matches here before.
While delving into whether Punjab missed a trick by including these two pacers in their side, we have to consider that at the time of the auction, they didn’t know that this year, there will not be a single match in Mohali. Had they known that, they might have gone for a different combination. Punjab, though, made a mistake of picking bowlers who are suited to Australian conditions.
Neither of these two bowlers have a style of bowling that suits Indian pitches. Having said that, Punjab have finished their Chennai leg, where they didn’t go with either of these two pacers. They will play their next four matches in Ahmedabad before moving to Bengaluru to play another five matches. On both these pitches, especially the one in Ahmedabad, the Punjab outfit can easily try to bring in either of these two players. Fortunes can easily change in the IPL, but the question that still remains is whether fortunes will change for these Aussie pacers or not.
