Punjab in need of top-order revival

Kings XI Punjab's problems lie top of the drawer. Their top-order batsmen have resembled a tired group of nightshift workers, more eager to hit the sack than hit the ball. That is no exaggeration. The figures validate their struggles.

In the opening clash against Delhi Daredevils, Punjab were reeling at 44 for 4 and failed to raise even a par score. They bounced back strongly in the following match, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, with a 129-run opening partnership between Ravi Bopara and Manvinder Bisla that laid a solid foundation for the eventual 200-plus target. However, Jacques Kallis' brilliance ensured Bangalore would not sweat in the face of such a big chase.

The stumbling blocks returned in Cuttack when, chasing 170, Punjab were down on the knees at 68 for 6 and even if Irfan Pathan brought them six run runs short of victory, the faultlines were once again out in the open. At 64 for 4 in 11 overs, in the next match against Chennai Super Kings, Punjab's fragile top order once again cracked under pressure. But for the hara-kiri committed by the opposition batsmen, Punjab would count themselves lucky to escape with their first win via the Super Over.

Though they showed more determination against Rajasthan Royals, they flattered to deceive, collapsing from 107 for 3 in 11 overs to 152 and suffering a 31-run defeat. Chasing a similar target of 183, this time against Kolkata Knight Riders at home, Punjab once again folded embarrassingly.

There are many culprits, but the lack of a settled opening pair has not given the middle order a platform to build a good target or chase confidently. Bopara, on whom much of the team's hopes were pinned in the absence of Shaun Marsh, is Punjab's leading run-scorer but he is far from the imposing figures that Kallis and Sachin Tendulkar have been for their teams. Add to that the absence of a permanent opening partner - Bisla, Irfan, Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara have been tried - and the middle order failing to fire as a unit, the problems keeping stacking up.

The situation is only getting desperate. To entertain any hopes of reaching the semi-finals, Punjab need to win at least six of their remaining eight matches. For that they need someone to play a sheet anchor, a batsman who could bat through the innings, who could easily move between the roles of the accumulator and the aggressor.

Luckily for them, Punjab possess one such man in their ranks - Marsh, the highest run-getter in first IPL with an amazing strike rate of 139.68. More striking was the fact that he got a start in virtually every game he opened in: in the eleven matches in 2008, he had a single-digit score only once, and cracked five fifties and one century.

"Marsh is a top-order player. Anyone who has that responsibility at the top of the order needs to bat through the innings," Tom Moody, Punjab's coach said. Both he and Mahela Jayawardene, the stand-in captain (Sangakkara is sitting out due to a ban for a slow over-rate in three matches) admitted Punjab are in dire straits, only because of the failure of their top batsmen. "At the end of the day we are in this position at this stage because our top order hasn't clicked. We only have to look at teams who have shown consistency of form and they are sides who have had their top order firing," Moody said.

Marsh is leaving behind a back injury - a swollen disc detected during the home ODI series against West Indies earlier this year - so the challenge for him would be two-fold. But Moody, who was, until recently, the coach of Western Australia, the state Marsh plays for, summed up Marsh's challenge. "Responsibility and pressure on Shaun will be as much as anyone who has batted at the top of the order."