Punjab Kings' New Batting Template In IPL 2022

Punjab Kings have changed their batting approach in IPL 2022.

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In the 16th over of the first inning of the match, Shahrukh Khan decided to slog-sweep Rashid Khan for a six. Two balls earlier, Rashid had got Liam Livingstone out on the boundary. It was Rashid Khan's last over of the inning and four overs were still remaining. 

Why did the duo attempt to smack the world's best T20 leg-spinner for a six given they had just hit Mohammad Shami for 18 runs in the previous over and didn't have any batting to come after them? 

In that game, Punjab Kings lost five wickets between 7-16 overs - four wickets in 17 balls between 14 and 16th over. But you know what more happened between these middle overs? Punjab smacked 112 runs. 

They didn't care whether it was Rashid Khan or his last over, what they did care about was the approach. They continued to back the approach of taking on bowlers irrespective of the circumstances. 

This is the new Punjab Kings and their way to approach the inning. In IPL 2022, the Kings have lost 19 wickets in four innings during the middle overs (7-16). In these four innings, PBKS scored 333 runs. So basically in 40 overs, Punjab scored 333/19 - 8.3 runs per over at a strike rate of 144.78.  

They are still mid-table in terms of teams having the best middle-overs run rate this season. But the fact that Punjab got a batting lineup to make the most out of the middle-overs is a testament to the fact that will continue to gamble wickets in the middle overs than waiting for the final overs to arrive. 

They are playing the risk game and aren't fearing losing wickets. This isn't an approach that will sure-shot reap rewards for them but they have changed it. It's just another gamble, like T20 always is, but it is refreshing to see Punjab taking it.