After Australia pacer Xavier Bartlett bowled the most expensive spell in Punjab Kings' (PBKS) Indian Premier League (IPL) history, Lockie Ferguson's name in the playing eleven against Rajasthan Royals (RR) did not come as a surprise. Ferguson is more experienced in IPL and in international cricket. His pace could cause trouble for RR but on April 28, he was taken to the cleaners. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stunned him, Donovan Ferreira didn’t let him make a comeback in the slog overs. The Kiwi pacer ended up conceding 57 runs in his quota of four overs. But, PBKS fast bowling coach James Hopes has backed him to do better in the upcoming games.
“Lockie was not an experiment. Lockie was just coming into our team whenever he was going to be available to play, and now he's going to be better for the run. He's a world-class bowler, and we all know that,” Hopes said in the post-match presentation.
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This was Ferguson’s first match of the season. In the previous season, he claimed five wickets from four games at an average of 20.80. His economy rate was 9.17 runs per over.
However, PBKS’ pace attack has been under the scanner this season. Barring a few performances, they trio of Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen and Bartlett have struggled. None of them seem to be in the race for purple cap. On the bench, they have options as well. Among overseas pace-bowling options, they have Australia’s left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis and Afghanistan’s pace-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai. Apart from Vijaykumar Vyshak who has played a few games, they also have Yash Thakur waiting in the wings.
PBKS coach Hopes says RR loss a ‘reality check’
Despite the loss, Hopes is far from pressing the panic button as it was their first of the season. PBKS still comfortably at top with six wins from eight games and a point via abandoned game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
"It's a reality check, and that's exactly what it is. Yeah, we're flying, we've been winning games and it's great, and everyone's happy, and it's still a great environment. One loss - you're not going to go through the IPL and not lose a game. And it's now," Hopes said.
PBKS will now face Gujarat Titans (GT) at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on May 3. He has hinted at a change or two in the combination as well.
"We have a few days to regroup before we play GT [Gujarat Titans, on May 3], and it's about just getting back to work, and a couple of days of training and then trying to iron out some kinks, trying to work through the best combination for the conditions we're going to get, and the opposition we're going to get in the next couple of games," he said.