IPL 2024: Home advantage? Not quite for Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings travelled to its second home base in Dharamshala with great expectations. Having defeated Chennai Super Kings in its den, bringing its dismal campaign back on track, the Sam Curran-led side hoped to build on the momentum and reignite its hopes of reaching the playoffs.

But a 28-run defeat in the reverse fixture at the HPCA Stadium on Sunday meant the Punjab Kings no longer had its fate in its own hands. Though it can still qualify for the last-four stage on paper, in all practicality, it needs a miracle and lots of luck to book a knockout berth.

While injury issues – including that of captain Shikhar Dhawan – proved detrimental to the team’s prospects, the fact that it lost five of its six home games so far is also one of the major reasons behind the debacle.

Moving on from the PCA Stadium in Mohali, the Punjab Kings played its five home matches at the newly-built Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur this season, losing four. And its campaign in Dharamshala too began on a disappointing note, even though the side hopes to bounce back in its last home match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday.

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“It’s disappointing on a number of levels,” Brad Haddin, Punjab Kings’ assistant coach, told  Sportstar. “It was a new home ground and the crowd was outstanding, but it was also a learning experience in terms of what the wicket did. As we look back, we lost three games in the last couple of balls, and it was disappointing to lose because you bank on your home ground to make it a fortress…”

Before moving to Mullanpur, Punjab Kings featured in 61 home fixtures at the PCA Stadium since 2008, of which it won 31 games. However, it’s track record in Dharamshala is poor, losing seven of its 12 games since 2010. 

But why did the team fail to take home advantage?

“We just probably did not react fast to the situations in the match,” Haddin said, adding: “T20 games are won on winning big moments, but identifying those moments are also important and we probably didn’t do that…”

Punjab Kings’ co-owner Preity Zinta, too, wrote on social media that going forward, the side needs to win its home matches in a bid to fare well in the tournament.

This time around, the recipe for success of the top-three teams has been winning a majority of their home games. While Kolkata Knight Riders has won four of its six games at Eden Gardens, defending champion Chennai Super Kings, too, has four wins from six outings at the Chepauk so far.

Rajasthan Royals, placed second in the table, won four of its five games at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur and will be travelling to Guwahati for the remaining two home games next week.