Returning to Mohali, Kings XI Punjab are looking forward to swinging the results in their favour. The home team have revisited the drawing board and analysed their strategies as Pepsi IPL 2015 enters the middle phase of the tournament. Asked whether the team’s strategy needed to change as they shift their base from Pune to Mohali, coach Sanjay Bangar replied, “It does. But it’s the same for all teams,” without revealing what the hosts plans. Having retained more or less the same composition which had galloped to the final of the 2014 season KXIP are working on the team to click as a unit. “The team has not excelled in some departments. There hasn’t been a collective effort. That’s why we’re in this situation. But whatever has happened has happened. But there are still eight matches to go, that’s a lot of games. It’s not that we have no points, we have won twice. If you look at the points table, every team has a chance of making it to the Playoffs. So, we’re still in the race. We believe that we will turn it around and play like we did last year,” Bangar said while interacting with the media in Chandigarh on the eve of the match. Discussing the team composition which comes across as unsettled, he explained, “More or less, our team combination remains the same. We stick to our ‘three foreign batsmen and one bowler’ combination. We have stuck to that in most of our games so far. We had to make a change when (George) Bailey got injured, Shaun Marsh made runs and then Bailey had to come back. So those were forced changes, which were purely circumstantial. It’s only because of that people tend to feel that we haven’t had a settled outlook. But, more or less, we have followed our team selections as per our strategies. We haven’t really gone too far away from that.” While the bowlers have been relatively more successful, the batting lineup is yet come together as a unit. Batting was crucial to KXIP’s wins and the batsmen would have to deliver for the side to reverse their fortunes. Speaking about the power-packed lineup Bangar added, “All of them are quality batsmen. If you see, our top five or six can compete with any other team. They have been performers. And we have to be patient at times because in cricket you know there are a lot of ups and downs. You have to take the downs with your chin up and expect a turnaround to happen quickly and keep preparing.” The key factor in their success the previous season was Glenn Maxwell, who is yet to fire the way he had and sat out, while Marsh, who has played with some success for the team in the past, has had to watch from the dug-out for most part.“It’s a very good problem to have, for us - having a player of Shaun Marsh’s ability, sitting on the bench for such a long period of time. And there are times when you just have to think what must be going through Shaun Marsh’s mind because he has been our most successful player in the first six or seven seasons. And he had to sit out for an entire season. So he has waited for his opportunity and he made it count when he got it. It’s just that our quality of batsmen is such that someone’s going to miss out. And sadly it was Maxwell’s turn last game,” Bangar said in explanation. Discussing Virender Sehwag, on whom the team depends for a flying start, KXIP’s bowling coach, Joe Dawes said, “I think we all know Viru is a quality player. He has been around forever. He’s only a good innings away. He plays his brand of cricket and, you know, it’s probably risky. He takes the bowlers on at the top of the order. You know, by his own admission, he hasn’t been happy with his form as he would’ve liked. I think the easy answer to this is that he’s only one good innings away. He has proved (for) 15-20 years now that he’s a quality player. So, we support him and expect that he’ll come good sooner rather than later.” Speaking about the bowling attack, “I think there are areas in which we can improve and there are areas that we’re talking about. But as a group, they are a young group - barring Mitch (Mitchell Johnson), and continue to learn. The young Indian guys are doing well. Sandeep’s (Sharma) bowling extremely well, whether he’s asked to open the bowling or come back in the middle or also at the death. The pleasing thing for me is that he wants to bowl. In the KKR game, for example, he went up to George and said ‘Give me the ball. I’m going to nick (Gautam) Gambhir off.’ And he did exactly that in that one over which changed the game back in our favour. Unfortunately, we let it slip at the end. So, you know, he’s going really well. It’s nice to see these kids becoming not just followers, but starting to become leaders. It’s really exciting.” Talking about the leader of the attack – Johnson, and his form, he said, “I think Mitch is Mitch. You know, if you want someone to bowl Glenn McGrath-like lengths, Mitch isn’t your man. What Mitch does is, run in and bowl fast. You know he has created opportunities for us. He is being aggressive, which is all we ask of him. That’s T20 cricket; sometimes those top edges… like the other night, with MS (Dhoni), he beat MS for pace with a couple of bouncers. They went for runs but they could go anywhere. You know, again, everyone is only just off the mark and we stick with them, have faith in them, keep that confidence in them and we know they are quality players. They’ll come good.” Axar Patel is yet another young Indian player who is shaping into an all-rounder and making significant contributions to the team. Reflecting on the youngster’s progress and role, R Sridhar said, “Oh yes, we definitely see him as an all-rounder because of his potential, what he has got and what he can offer to the team. And the role that he plays in this team, obviously he comes in and tries to squeeze the runs with the ball. He’s an outstanding fielder as well. And also, he has picked up on his batting quite a bit since the international exposure. He knows where he needs to go, as far as his batting his concerned. He’s working hard on his batting with Sanjay and other coaching staff. So he feels he can contribute a little more in terms of finishing games for the team, which he did last year in CLT20 (2014; he had a very, very good finish for the team against Barbados Tridents. That gave him a lot of confidence, as to what he can achieve, what kind of potential he has. Now he wants to take that one step further. So he’s working hard so that he can offer more to the team in terms of an all-rounder, which is great. Just like what he did in the match against Rajasthan Royals, when he and Mitch got together.” Speaking about the competition, which is still open, Bangar said, “This season not too many teams have broken away (in the points table). So, I think it is a very, very tight competition. Even last season, that was the case. So we overcame very tight competition to win 11 games in the league stage. And I think it’s going to be that way. I don’t think any single team can now stay back and dominate this tournament, as was in the past. I think it augurs well for good viewing.”