The Punjab Kings have put up a good fight in a few editions of the IPL – including an appearance in the final of 2014. But they are yet to win a title in 14 editions of the tournament. Having made just two pre-auction retentions in Mayank Agarwal and Arshdeep Singh, the Kings have completely revamped themselves for the 15th edition of the tournament as they continue to hunt for the elusive trophy.
They roped in as many as 23 new players at the auction, which includes some costly buys – England all-rounder Liam Livingstone for Rs 11.5 crore, South African speedster Kagiso Rabada for Rs 9.25 crore, Shikhar Dhawan for Rs 8.5 crore, England keeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow for Rs 6.75 crore and West Indies all-rounder Odean Smith for Rs 6 crore.
The Kings have not made it to the playoffs in the last seven seasons and will be hoping that the new names in their ranks will be able to script a different story this season.
Full squad
Mayank Agarwal (c), Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.
Strengths
One of the greatest strengths of the Punjab Kings this season is the depth in their batting. Even though their best batsman from the last few seasons – KL Rahul – is not with them anymore, the batting department is star studded. The likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Liam Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow are match-winning batsmen. Dhawan, especially, is among the highest run-scorers in IPL history. The southpaw is the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 5784 runs from 192 matches at an average of 34.84 and a strike rate of 126.64.
Livingstone, in whom the franchise has invested a whopping Rs 11.5 crore, is a match-winning all-rounder who has a strike rate of over 144 in his 167-match T20 career along with 69 wickets. Kings also have a finisher in the uncapped Shah Rukh Khan, who was not given too many opportunities last season, but impressed in the couple of games he played. He is a proven match-winning finisher in domestic cricket for Tamil Nadu and is likely to be a regular in the team’s starting XI this year.
In the bowling department, the Kings boast of yorker master Kagiso Rabada. Although the South African had a below average IPL 2021 in which he picked up 15 wickets, he is one of the most exciting pacers in world cricket. Rabada had picked up 25 and 30 wickets respectively in the 2019 and 2020 editions.
Weaknesses
While the batting department looks strong, Punjab lack a solid spin department. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who was roped in at the auction for over Rs 5 crore, will have most of the work to do with the ball. Apart from Chahar, the Kings do not have dependable spin bowlers in their ranks, which could become a problem, especially if the pitch is on the slower side.
Their pace department looks strong majorly because of Rabada. If the South African has an off day, the uncapped Arshdeep Singh, Sandeep Sharma and Rishi Dhawan will have to pull up their socks. While Arshdeep is a dependable pacer, the other two can be taken to cleaners on a bad day.
Predicted playing XI – Mayank Agarwal (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Liam Livingstone, Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Dhawan, Odean Smith, Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.
