Kings XI Punjab will be keen to finish the tournament on a winning note when take on table-toppers Chennai Super Kings in their last match of the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2015. Gearing up to take on the MS Dhoni-led side the home team trained in the indoor facility after their net session on Friday morning was briefly interrupted by rain. The George Bailey-led team had pulled off a convincing win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous game, while CSK were comprehensively beaten by the Delhi Daredevils in their previous match. Asked if his team would take confidence from the recent results, KXIP coach Sanjay Bangar said, “We had three very good games back-to-back starting from the game against the Kolkata Knight Riders and then the Sunrisers Hyderabad (which were close finishes although KXIP ended on the losing side) and we were able to finish on the winning side against RCB. (However) It’s not about who has done what against any opposition, what matters is playing well on a particular day and then trying to execute as well as you can. And that’s what we will try to do again tomorrow (May 16).” It was Wriddhiman Saha’s early blitz that had helped set up the match in the rain reduced contest against the Virat Kohli-led side in Mohali. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who opened the innings for the hosts in that game, has put up some good performances for his team with the bat throughout the season. Asked about the possibility of Saha opening against CSK, the KXIP coach appreciated the player’s gritty contributions when he said, “He has adapted to the position very well. He has been very flexible for us; whether we’ve asked him to open or bat at No 3 or No 6, he is our most flexible guy in the batting order. He has given a very good account of himself and obviously tomorrow as well he is going to go out and open for us.” While rain had most likely forced that particular change in the batting order in the team’s most recent match, they have tried various combinations at the top-order given Virender Sehwag’s lack of runs in the Pepsi IPL 2015. Discussing the experienced opener’s form and his being left out in a few games, Bangar explained, “Unfortunately (we had to do that). Even Viru realises that he was not able to give the starts that he expects of himself and we had a very good player like a Manan Vohra sitting on the bench. It’s just that he couldn’t fire for us this season as much as he would have liked and as much as we would have liked. It’s just that if somebody at the top of the order doesn’t contribute, then that doesn’t help the team score in T20 cricket. It’s quite unfortunate that he wasn’t able to make contributions that we expected of him.” The lack of the runs from the top order and the batting lineup not coming together as a unit was one of the factors resulting in the team’s poor performance this season. When asked, what was the biggest problem that the team suffered this season, the coach explained, “If you see the leading run-scorers of the tournament you will see it is a David Warner or a Ajinkya Rahane....I don’t have that list, but a lot of top-order batsmen have done really well for their respective teams. If the top three or four of your batting lineup aren’t in the leading run-scorers list then obviously the team doesn’t find itself in a very good position. That’s where we were found lacking.” Analysing the team’s run-up to their last match of the tournament, he added, “It’s been a totally a topsy-turvy thing - being at the top (of the points table) last season and then finishing this season at the bottom. We need to go back to the drawing board and reassess our strategies. The strategies that we applied last season didn’t work this season. Whether we want to go out and use the same strategies next season or use a different combination, we have to relook at all that. But it is best to do it after a break because in a season like this your mindset, your thinking can be very negative at some point of time. It’s best to give yourself time to settle down and then relook at it a fortnight down the line and then plan accordingly for the next season.” Reflecting on the season he further added, “We are a very cohesive unit and we have faced really tough situations; there were adverse conditions at times, which bring out the best in people. It has only made us stronger, it has only made us deepen that resolve to comeback and regain the supremacy in this championship. From everybody’s perspective we have only grown stronger in resolve and I feel we as a group will come out better as individuals and as a team.”