In the seventh season of Indian Premier League, Punjab is the only team which has won 5 matches in a row, also setting a record for winning 8 matches consecutively (three being played in the last season). The IPL auction took place this year hence forming a new team full of great vigour and enthusiasm. It’s been observed that this time the owner Priety Zinta has put in lot of thought and built up a team with balanced number of bowlers, batsmen as well as all rounders.
Under the leadership of the captain George Bailey the team is practising hard and delivering great results. In the first few matches, Maxwell and Miller’s duo put of a great score on the board and helped Punjab to chase big totals including 206 (target set by CSK). The team is so well coordinated that if the batsmen fail to put a good total on the board, the bowlers make sure that they prevent the opposite team from doing well by taking important wickets. Laksmipaty Balaji an asset to the team, is an old and experienced bowler, also amongst the leading wicket takers in the tournament as of now. Accompanying him, the team has young players like Sandeep Sharma who took 3 wickets each in the last two matches and was declared man of the match.
If one thinks about the composition of this team, we find a perfect blend between young players as well as more experienced players. The team is being coached by Mr Sanjay Bangar, its notable that he’s the only Indian coach in IPL at the moment and it won’t be wrong to say that he’s doing a tremendous job. Talking about the team anthem sung by the famous Punjabi singer Daler Mehendi has been constant for the past 7 years and is extremely catchy having a great ring to it.
Although the song lyrics still include Yuvraj Singh’s name, even when he’s playing from other teams ever since the fourth season. A team which hadn’t been performing to its full potential in the past few seasons is emerging as the best team this season, topping not only the score table but also fair play award as well. The way this team has been progressing seems like it’s not too soon to say that they might be this year’s champions.
I wish this team continues playing like this and live up to the expectations bestowed upon them by their million fans. All the best to my favorite IPL team, I hope they win, fingers crossed, DHOOM PUNJABI!!!