Four overs that cost Kings XI

11th May 2008

Chennai Super Kings' score of 181 was never really beyond the reach of the Kings XI Punjab, given it had in its ranks the likes of Shaun Marsh, James Hopes, Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardena and Irfan Pathan.

Working down the target in simplistic terms, the Kings XI side needed a run and a half every ball, or just in excess of nine runs per over. Easy target one would think, given Shaun Marsh scores at the rate of 130 runs per hundred balls, James Hopes at 136 runs every hundred balls, while Yuvraj Singh has a Twenty20 strike rate of 142.22, Mahela Jayawardena at 140.19, and Irfan Pathan gets his runs at the rate of seven and a half runs every over.

Despite having the firepower, and matching the Super Kings stroke-maker for stroke-maker, Yuvraj Singh's Kings XI Punjab still ended up being second best, falling short of the target by 18 runs.

A close look at the match, with emphasis on the run-chase, and it soon becomes evident that the difference between the Kings XI side emerging victors and ending up on the losing side was a mere four good overs, or bad overs, depending on how you see it.

1. The Chennai Super Kings' innings had seven overs (costing 31 runs) where less than 6 runs were conceded, the Kings XI innings had six such overs (costing 21 runs) - not a major difference, but advantage Super Kings.

2. The Super Kings' innings had five overs (costing 42 runs) where Dhoni and his men scored between 7 and 10 runs every over. Cut to the run-chase, and the Kings XI innings had ten such overs where Yuvraj Singh's boys managed 85 runs to the Kings XI total. Advantage Kings XI.

3. The last block of overs - the big overs, which cost the bowling team in excess of ten runs. The Chennai Super Kings' innings had eight big overs - (contributing 108 runs to the total), while the Kings XI Punjab innings only had four such overs, which contributed a total of 57 runs to the team's cause.

Quite clearly, it was these big overs that cost the Kings XI the match. Here's a look at the eight overs where the Super Kings scored ten or more in the over:

1st Over - Sreesanth (12 runs)
5th Over - Sreesanth (11 runs)
6th Over - VRV Singh (15 runs)
7th Over - Piyush Chawla (11 runs)
11th Over - Piyush Chawla (15 runs)
13th Over - Irfan Pathan (15 runs)
15th Over - VRV Singh (12 runs)
19th Over - James Hopes (17 runs)

The thing that strikes almost immediately while looking at the list above, is that three of the eight big overs in the Chennai Super Kings innings came when the fielding restrictions were in force. Compare that to the Kings XI innings, and they managed only one over where they could score more than 10 runs.

Does that tell us something? Yuvraj Singh and Tom Moody, are you listening?