IPL 2018: Dale Steyn Questions Kings XI Punjab's Decision To Leave Out David Miller From Playing Eleven

Kings XI Punjab’s fragile middle-order once again came back to haunt them on Monday against Royal Challengers Bangalore. So far, openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle have shouldered the batting responsibilities and have done exceedingly well. On Monday, both of them failed to get going and it was the time for the under-performing middle-order to rise up to the occasion. However, the batsmen failed miserably as Royal Challengers crushed the Kings XI by 10 wickets.

Asked to bat first, Rahul and Gayle started brightly. Rahul hit three sixes while Gayle hit four fours as the duo added 36 runs for the first wicket. However, Kings XI’s innings was derailed when Umesh Yadav dismissed both the openers inside an over.

With both the in-form openers back in the pavilion, the onus was on Kings XI’s fragile middle-order to bail the team out of trouble. However, the middle-order once again failed to deliver the goods.

Mohammed Siraj sent back Karun Nair for 1 before Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Marcus Stoinis for two. Colin de Grandhomme then firmly put the Royal Challengers on top by dismissing Mayank Agarwal for 2 and reducing the hosts to 61 for 5. At the end of the tenth over, the Kings XI were reeling at 65 for 5.

Kings XI’s hopes of recovering and posting a good total then took another huge blow when Moeen Ali dismissed Aaron Finch to reduce them to 78 for 6.  The hosts kept on losing wickets and were eventually bundled up for a paltry 88.

In reply, Royal Challengers chased down the total in just 8.1 overs without losing any wicket. Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel came out all guns blazing and remained unbeaten on 48 and 40 respectively.

Meanwhile, as soon as the game ended, South Africa star Dale Steyn took to Twitter to question Kings XI’s team selection. Despite the constant failures of the middle-order, the team management has refrained from tinkering the lineup and not surprisingly they are paying a hefty price for it. David Miller, who was one of the batting mainstays of the team in the last few seasons, has played only two games so far. The southpaw had scored 24 not out and 26 but has surprisingly not been recalled into the playing eleven since the game against Delhi Daredevils last month.

Just like many, Steyn was also surprised by the team’s reluctance to include Miller and he took to Twitter to write:

“So why isn’t Miller getting a game? “

So why isn’t Miller getting a game? #justaskingforafriend

— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) May 14, 2018