IPL 2018 – Kings XI Punjab Team Preview

Captain: Ravichandran Ashwin.

Coach: Brad Hodge.

Home Ground: Holkar Stadium, Indore & PCA Stadium, Mohali.

IPL 2017 Result: 5th in points table.

Best Result: Runners up in 2014.

Released: Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan, Matt Henry, Sandeep Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Murali Vijay, Hashim Amla, Manan Vohra, Darren Sammy, Varun Aaron, Martin Guptill, Armaan Jaffer, Shaun Marsh, T Natarajan, Rahul Tewatia, Shardul Thakur, Rinku Singh, Pradeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Gurkeet Singh Mann, Nikhil Naik, Anureet Singh.

Purchased: KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Zadran, Ankit Rajpoot, Barinder Sran, Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, Ben Dwarshuis, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Manzoor Dar, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar.

If you ask me which team has been consistently disappointing over the years at the Indian Premier League, I would choose Kings XI Punjab. Co-owner Preity Zinta never fails to come and cheer on her team, with a bright smile on her face and the KXIP flag in her hand. However, all the team has done is let her down!

They signed Glenn Maxwell in 2014 and that was a good year for them, but they went back to disappointing from 2015 onwards. If I have to be brutally honest, apart from a couple of really good players, I don’t think that this squad is good enough to win IPL 2018 either. You can’t win a tournament fielding just 2 or 3 match winners in your team.

KXIP were actually targetting some of the best players at the IPL 2018 auction but the RTM (Right to Match) card got in their way multiple times. Their squad would’ve looked way stronger had there not been RTM cards. They ended up with players like Chris Gayle and Yuvraj Singh, who can be destructive, we know, but they weren’t really wanted by anyone at the auction. They were purchased at base price!

However, one can see a few positive points in their squad as well. Even though they have been on a down-slide over the last couple of years, Yuvi and Gayle will have a point to prove so they may be able to step up their game. The team will certainly get good starts with Aaron Finch opening the innings, as he has proved his dominance in India in the past. They have also signed Mayank Agarwal, who is in magical form at the moment.

Kings XI Punjab Squad for IPL 2018:

Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.

Again, I don’t see much of a threat in their bowling attack, as newly appointed captain Ravi Ashwin has never been a great limited overs bowler. The one bowler to look forward to is Aussie Andrew Tye whose knuckle ball was fooling even the best batsmen last season. He took 12 wickets in 6 games and he’s one who can help KXIP win games in IPL 2018.

Kings XI Punjab Squad for IPL 2018:

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