Punjab’s all-or-nothing T20 template set to change with new coaching staff

Anil Kumble, his support staff and data scientists are all gone. Nine players have been released as Punjab Kings search for another formula in chase of elusive title

Punjab Kings will be introducing their tenth coach and thirteenth captain in their sixteenth IPL campaign, next year. Such rapid rate of employ and release of team management is unusual for a franchise whose ownership core, over the years, has largely remained the same. The closest that the franchise has come to winning the title was when they finished runners-up in 2014, in their erstwhile name Kings X1 Punjab.

IPL 2023: Trevor Bayliss is the new Punjab Kings head coach. (Getty Images)

With the latest round of personnel changes – head coach Anil Kumble has been replaced by Trevor Bayliss and captain Mayank Agarwal by Shikhar Dhawan - the franchise appears to have backtracked from an ultra-aggressive playing philosophy, which looked modern on paper, but one which they could never fully embrace.

SHINY START

In Kumble’s third year as head coach, the team had an opportunity to recalibrate at the mega auction, where they spent heavily on a bunch of power-hitters with an aim to outclass opponents with a greater boundary count. Kumble, a strong believer in data analytics, employed for auction recruitment, services of Dan Weston, a strategy analyst who advocates cutting down the use of a batting anchor in T20s. As a first, a specialist power-hitting coach in Englishman Julian Wood was roped in who introduce baseball hitting methods in training.

The end result? PBKS finished sixth on the points table, exactly where they were in the previous two seasons under Kumble. The owners decided to move on and with that appeared to have closed the doors on an exciting playing template that more and more teams may strive to adapt in the future.

On days when Punjab were able to put it together, they were spectacular. They began the season by successfully chasing 205 in their first match, finished their final match chasing down 158 in the 16th over and scored 180 or more, seven times in the season. But they couldn't muster enough winning points on the table due to their long tail and several loose ends in bowling.

Evidently, unlike England’s T20 team, not everyone in the squad bought-in to the new template, some were simply ill-equipped to. Many players may have found the methods quite disruptive. "The game is such a power game right now. You will have more hitting coaches than batting coaches. I can see the trend now. Otherwise, you are trying to teach a modern game with an ancient brand if you try to do that," Wood would say.

Agarwal could only score 196 runs at a SR of 122.50. Dhawan top scored with his 460 runs but switched to playing an anchoring role as wickets tumbled around him.

Only Liam Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow were able to live up to their reputation and in Jitesh Sharma, discovered an exciting local power-hitting talent.

POLICY RETREAT?

Kumble, his entire coaching staff and the data scientists are gone. Wasim Jaffer, the team’s batting coach in 2021 and Charl Langeveldt, bowling coach in 2020 are back. Brad Haddin, who previously worked with Bayliss at Sunrisers Hyderabad, will be the new Assistant coach.

West Indian power hitting all-rounder Odean Smith and England’s Benny Howell have been released. But others big hitters - Livingstone, Bairstow, Sharma, Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shah Rukh Khan are still there. One will never know, if the radical template was worth persisting with. They may still play positively, but expect the aggression to be tempered. Case of prudent thinking or an opportunity lost? It’s a question, the cricket world at large, after England’s World Cup win is mulling over.