- Name: Punjab Kings
- Captain: Mayank Agarwal
- Head Coach: Anil Kumble
- Squad members: 25 players (2 retained)
- Best result: Runners-up in IPL 2014
- IPL 2021 result: 5th on points table
Fourteen years of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and one major tournament final is all this team can boast of. They’ve tried changing their management, changing the squad, changing their jersey and even tries changing the team name. Now called Punjab Kings, the team has been suffering for a while in the IPL. And while they have a decent squad for IPL 2022, they lack that x-factor that is likely to win them the title.
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While most teams retained three or four players, Punjab only retained two and those were Arshdeep Singh and new captain Mayank Agarwal. Easily one of the most consistent players in the side over the last 4 seasons of the IPL, Mayank has been good and he’ll have the added responsibility of leading the team this year. They released KL Rahul and bought Shikhar Dhawan who will open alongside Mayank in IPL 2022.
Apart from KL, Dhawan is one of the most consistent players in the IPL over the last 3-4 seasons, recently also becoming the first and only player to score consecutive centuries in the league’s history. He’s come here at half the pay-cheque he received at SRH and hasn’t been given due respect at the national squad as well, so he’s got a lot to prove and it likely to give it his best at the top of the order, with the left-right combination sure to help Punjab this season.
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To strengthen their middle order, they purchased two in-form English batsmen in Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone. Bairstow could open and Mayank could bat at #3 or vice versa, but we’re hoping it’s the former as Dhawan-Bairstow have good memories of batting together for SRH as well. As for Livingstone, he could be one of those players to light up the season for Punjab fans, likely to be their leading six hitter in IPL 2022, while also providing them a few overs when needed.
And just in case that wasn’t enough of firepower in the batting order, they’ve added Shahrukh Khan to their side who hasn’t gained all the praise in the IPL as yet but he’s been very consistently performing in the domestic circuit, bringing his team the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title as well. And talking about performing in the domestic circuit, Rishi Dhawan had an unbelievable year, set to make a comeback after IPL 2016.
The team will see slight struggles when it comes to the bowling attack as they’ll have Kagiso Rabada leading the attack (having won the Purple Cap once in the past) but apart from him, we don’t see any match winners with the ball. Ishan Porel and Sandeep Sharma are two Indian new ball bowling options while Arshdeep Singh (one of the retained players) may make a difference but hasn’t proved to be super reliable as yet.
Punjab Kings – IPL 2022 Betting
While it is a batter’s game, it is truly your bowlers who help you win T20 tournaments and we don’t see any high impact bowlers in this side. Rahul Chahar is another young promising leg-spinner but no one who can turn matches on its head, and that’s the reason why we won’t be betting on Punjab to be the IPL 2022 winner, even though they’re one of the favourites to win at odds of 7.50 with Betway. Let’s also remember they don’t have experience of being in big finals and playoffs games!
The 👑 with his first-ever speech of the season 🗣#CaptainPunjab means business, pure business! 👊#TATAIPL2022 #SaddaPunjab #PunjabKings @mayankcricket pic.twitter.com/OPHZCrTvbi
— Punjab Kings (@PunjabKingsIPL) March 19, 2022
Bairstow, Rabada, and Livingstone are sure shot overseas selections in the preferred first choice team for IPL 2022. Considering they have enough of firepower with the bat, it’s likely they go with another overseas bowling option which we think could be Australia’s Nathan Ellis as he brings a lot of pace to the fore. If not him, they also have the option of Odean Smith who can bang it in hard, and is also a massive hitter of the ball!
Punjab Kings IPL 2022 squad: Mayank Agarwal (C), Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Ishan Porel, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Benny Howell, Rishi Dhawan, Nathan Ellis, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Baltej Singh, Writtick Chatterjee, Prerak Mankad, Jitesh Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Vaibhav Arora, Ansh Patel.
For more updates on the progress of Punjab Kings in IPL 2022, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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