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Coached by Australian Brad Hodge, Kings XI Punjab came into the auction with to revamp their squad.
It came as a little surprise as their owner Preity Zinta was extremely busy during the auction. They lost number of players to the Right to Match Cards by other franchises. For this IPL, Kings XI Punjab possess a strong side. Like Delhi Daredevils, they have been one of the strugglers of the tournament.
The side, led by R Ashwin will hope to go one better than IPL 2014 where they finished runners up to Kolkata Knight Riders.
Franchise Profile
Captain: Ravichandran Ashwin
Coach: Brad Hodge
Squad: Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Zadran, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, David Miller, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Singh Sran, Ben Dwarshuis, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Manzoor Dar, Pardeep Sahu and Mayank Dagar.
Likely playing XI: Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, K L Rahul, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, R Ashwin, Mohit Sharma, Andrew Tye, Ankit Rajpoot
Key players: Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, K L Rahul, Andrew Tye
Strengths
1) Openers: Indian Premier League has always attracted reputed names from world cricket. A strong opening combination was key for all the champions in the past. However, none seemed as lethal as Chris Gayle and Aaron Finch.
Chris Gayle, now 38 brings over 11000 runs in the shortest format of the game with 20 centuries and 68 half centuries! Stinkingly, Gayle performs better in the IPL than any other T20 tournaments. Partnering Chris Gayle at the top will most likely be Australian Aaron Finch. Australia’s former T20 captain has scored around 6500 runs in this format of the game. This will be his seventh franchise of the IPL.
Yet, he never justified his potential in the IPL until date. With Chris Gayle partnering him, this can be where Finch performs to his calibre.
2) Specialist batsmen with good Indian contingency: Apart from Gayle and Finch, Kings XI Punjab have several outstanding batsmen with an enviable Indian cohort. It can be the of the best set of batsmen in this IPL.
Weaknesses
1) Captaincy issues: Every T20 side requires a strong leader. Along with Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab remains the only squad without an experienced IPL captain. There decision to give captaincy to Ravichandran Ashwin is understandable but not convincing. He is an experienced cricketer but lacks captaincy experience.
With an Indian captain, the Punjab franchise have flexibility to rotate their four foreigners.
However, with the presence of Aaron Finch, it may be a gamble to give captaincy to an inexperienced captain. It should be seen if this pays off in this IPL.
(AAP Image/Julian Smith)
2) Wicket keeping: Every team barring Kings XI Punjab has a specialist wicketkeeper batsman. For this IPL, Indian international Lokesh Rahul is likely to keep wickets. While a talented batsman, Rahul is not the safest pair of hands for a wicketkeeper.
He drops catches more often or misses runouts. One of the reasons for the failure of Mumbai Indians in earlier IPLs was the lack of quality wicketkeeper. Boasting an amazing batting line-up, wicketkeeper slot may cause headache to the Kings XI Punjab team.
3) Too much dependence on Andrew Tye and R Ashwin: As we praised their batting line-up, Kings XI Punjab look short on bowlers. Andrew Tye and Ravichandran Ashwin are the only world class bowlers at Punjab’s disposal.
They appear short in bowling department for this tournament. Kings XI Punjab may toil to get overs bowled by their bowlers.
Opportunities
1) Andrew Tye: One of the leading T20 bowlers in the world, Andrew Tye is immensely talented. Going at under eight runs/ over at an average of under 20, he is Kings XI Punjab’s best bowler.
He took the IPL by storm last season with 12 wickets in mere six innings including a hat-trick during his career best figures of 5/17. However, a shoulder injury against Mumbai Indians cut his tournament short.
The paceman will be hoping to continue where he left off last season. This IPL can be where Andrew Tye further cements his position in the Australian team. For Punjab to perform well, he will need to shoulder the bowling responsibility.
If he repeats his performance of last season, Tye can also be a contender for season’s highest wicket taker (purple cap).
2) Mayank Agarwal: Indian cricket is in a peculiar situation. Hardly ever there is a cricketer with over 2100 runs a in domestic season to not make into the national squad. Mayank Agarwal, the best batsman of the last domestic season was one of the bargains of IPL auction.
Signed for around 200,00 Australian Dollars, Agarwal brings the form of life to this IPL. A strong tournament falls right in line with Mayank’s increasing reputation. If he performs well, he can also strengthen his case for a maiden India call-up.
3) Axar Patel: Retained for this IPL, the franchise has great expectations from all- rounder Axar. A hitter in the lower middle order, he is an economical spinner. India are looking beyond Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, and Patel is getting a strong consideration for the role.
He has not yet justified his selection with necessary returns. However, this can be the IPL where Patel comes off age and finally performs to his talents. This tournament can make him a prime candidate for a place in Indian national XI.
Threats
1) Injury concerns: For the talents they bring, Rahul, Finch, Gayle and Tye are injury- prone. Even if all start the tournament fit, a gruelling IPL can take a toll on their health. Along with these four, Yuvraj Singh has not been the same since recovering from the unfortunate lung cancer.
While he has regained his fitness, the illness has taken a toll on his health. A hectic tournament like IPL can prove too much for this southpaw and he may miss a few matches as well. Punjab’s fortunes will rest on the fitness of their star players who form their core.
2) Possibility of a skewed team: Kings XI Punjab enter this tournament with a skewed line-up. Boasting numerous talented players, their side is looks batsmen heavy and quite light in the bowling department.
A balanced line-up is often why a team wins a competition. Punjab seem to have missed a mark in this. If the names in their batting line-up fail to fire, Kings XI Punjab may have a difficult tournament.
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