Players of Punjab Kings (ANI Photo) DHARAMSHALA: There are few places in the world where cricket feels as dreamy and quite beautiful as Dharamshala. The noise softens, the air lightens, mountains begin to appear from impossible angles, and cricket suddenly feels less industrial and more spontaneous. With the Dhauladhar range behind the screen like a painted wall, Punjab Kings will be hoping that the change in altitude will also change the course of their season when they take on Delhi Capitals at the HPCA Stadium here on Monday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Few places in world cricket can take you away from the game like Dharamshala can. The stadium sits in the lap of the mountains, framed by cedar-covered slopes and clouds that drift so low they almost touch the floodlights. Even in May, the evening games here bear a slight chill.
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Sairaj Bahutule reacts on another Punjab Kings defeat, dropped catches and moreThe weather this week has been heavier than usual, with the fog lingering longer through the afternoon, the breeze bringing a pinch that belongs more to late autumn than the peak season of the IPL. They also predicted rain. Yet Dharamshala rarely denied entertainment. The pitch here has a reputation that players love: pace, carry and enough seam movement to engage fast bowlers. However, the boundaries are tantalizingly short, the pitch is fast and once the ball stops moving, the pull game opens up beautifully. IPL games at this venue have often turned into high-scoring nights. Punjab Kings themselves smashed 236/5 against Lucknow Super Giants last season, a reminder that even the mountain air cannot contain modern T20 batting. The kings of Punjab are coming and they need that exact freedom again. Not long ago they looked the most complete side in the competition. Six wins in their first seven games gave the impression of a team that is finally comfortable in its own skin. Then came the slide. Rajasthan Royals, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad have beaten them in succession, revealing small cracks that suddenly appear much bigger as the defeats pile up. Timing should worry them more than defeats. Momentum in T20 cricket can disappear faster than the sun disappears behind the Dhauladhar peaks and Punjab lost theirs just before the business end of the tournament. The catching in their previous match in Hyderabad was rough enough to change the course of the game. Arshdeep Singh and the seam attack slipped away at awkward stages. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh’s starts slowed down most significantly after guiding Punjab through the first half of the season. Through it all, Shreyas Iyer remained the calmest figure in the room. His batting has held its form and Punjab will need that calm over the next week. Their remaining three home games – against Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru – could determine whether this season becomes another near miss or something more permanent. If Punjab are anxious, Delhi Capitals look exhausted. Five defeats in their last six matches have dragged them into the bottom half of the table and familiar questions. Their batting looked increasingly shaky, unable to force the pace once the early wickets fell. Kuldeep Yadav’s unusually quiet season has removed one of their biggest middle-order weapons, while the fielding has been disorganized and sloppy at times. Even Mitchell Starc’s return has a strange sense of delay, as if Delhi are trying to reinvent themselves when the tournament has already moved on. Mathematically, they stay alive. Realistically, they need perfection from their end as well as permutations involving other teams to go from here.
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Perhaps that is why Dharamshala comes at the right time for both teams. For Punjab Kings, it offers a reset, while for Delhi Capitals, it offers an escape from surfaces that have trapped their batting. And for everyone else, it offers cricket in one of the few places where the spectacle surrounding the game can rival the game itself
