In fact Ashwin must be a relieved man after the labored win which was far from a comfortable win as the column claims.If Rahul had got out to that controversial catch not given, Punjab could have been in trouble. Ashwin should be a worried man the way his team appears to be losing steam mid-way struggling to beat the weakest team of the IPL-11 after the great start of 5 out of 6 wins initially. Ashwin on his part has been brilliant with his captaincy moves taking bold risks which paid off handsomely besides his own contribution with ball in choking the opposition batting. But there are serious chinks in the batting with a brittle m.o and too much dependence on the opening pair and Karun Nair. The m.o. has to be strengthened with Yuvi getting back his old form . Alternately Manoj Tiwari has to perk up or the dashing South African can be tried out. Fielding too have been below par although in the last match against Raj some improvement could be seen. Pacers too are struggling. Ashwin will have to make his bowling attack more spin-centric with min 3 spinners to bowl 12 overs like KKR to strangle the opposition. Ashwin certainly has a job in hand for sure considering his side made a heavy weather of chasing a modest total of around `150.
In fact Ashwin must be a relieved man after the labored win which was far from a comfortable win as the column claims.If Rahul had got out to that controversial catch not given, Punjab could have been in trouble. Ashwin should be a worried man the way his team appears to be losing steam mid-way struggling to beat the weakest team of the IPL-11 after the great start of 5 out of 6 wins initially. Ashwin on his part has been brilliant with his captaincy moves taking bold risks which paid off handsomely besides his own contribution with ball in choking the opposition batting. But there are serious chinks in the batting with a brittle m.o and too much dependence on the opening pair and Karun Nair. The m.o. has to be strengthened with Yuvi getting back his old form . Alternately Manoj Tiwari has to perk up or the dashing South African can be tried out. Fielding too have been below par although in the last match against Raj some improvement could be seen. Pacers too are struggling. Ashwin will have to make his bowling attack more spin-centric with min 3 spinners to bowl 12 overs like KKR to strangle the opposition. Ashwin certainly has a job in hand for sure considering his side made a heavy weather of chasing a modest total of around `150.
