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Will Punjab Kings rule this IPL?

April 12, 2021 09:59 IST

 

IMAGE: Punjab Kings Co-owner Preity Zinta, always a star attraction at her team's games. Photograph: BCCI/IPL
 

With a new name and a bolstered batting line-up, Punjab Kings, (formerly Kings XI Punjab), will hope for better fortunes this IPL season.

Last season, Punjab finished 6th, narrowly missing on the playoffs. But in the mini-auctions in February, the franchise made some good purchases to add much needed depth to their bowling attack and bolster their batting, the shaky middle-order in particular.

Punjab bought World No 1 T20 batsman Dawid Malan while the all-rounders column looks strong with the inclusion of Australian Moises Henriques and West Indies' Fabian Allen.

They have the ever-reliable K L Rahul at the top of the order with veteran Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal, another formidable force with the bat.

Punjab have roped in Australian speedsters Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith who are likely to back bowling spearheads Mohammed Shami and Chris Jordan.

The spin department lacks foreign flavour, but with new face Jalaj Saxena, Murugan Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi, who impressed last season, are likely to again spin a web around the opposition under Head Coach Anil Kumble's guidance.

Squad:

 AgeBatsBowlsRoleIPL games
K L Rahul 28 Right-handed   Captain/'keeper 81
Chris Gayle 41 Left-handed Right-arm off-break Batsman 132
Mandeep Singh 29 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Batsman 104
Mayank Agarwal 30 Right-handed Right-arm off-break Batsman 88
Sarfaraz Khan 23 Right-handed Right-arm leg-break Batsman 38
Dawid Malan 33 Left-handed Right-arm leg-break Batsman 0
Shahrukh Khan 25 Right-handed Right-arm off-break Batsman 0
Nicholas Pooran 25 Left-handed   Wicket-keeper 21
Prabhsimran Singh 25 Right-handed   Wicket-keeper 3
Deepak Hooda 25 Right-handed Right-arm off-break All-rounder 68
Moises Henriques 34 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium All-rounder 57
Fabian Allen 25 Right-handed Left-arm spin All-rounder 0
Saurabh Kumar 27 Left-handed Left-arm spin All-rounder 0
Jalaj Saxena 34 Right-handed Right-arm off-break All-rounder 0
Utkarsh Singh 22 Left-handed Right-arm off-break All-rounder 0
Mohammed Shami 30 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Bowler 63
Chris Jordan 32 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Bowler 20
Arshdeep Singh 22 Left-handed Left-arm fast-medium Bowler 11
Riley Meredith 24 Right-handed Right-arm fast Bowler 0
Jhye Richardson 24 Right-handed Right-arm fast Bowler 0
Darshan Nalkande 22 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Bowler 0
Ishan Porel 22 Right-handed Right-arm fast-medium Bowler 0
Murugan Ashwin 30 Right-handed Right-arm leg-break Bowler 31
Ravi Bishnoi 20 Right-handed Right-arm leg-break Bowler 14
Harpreet Brar 25 Left-handed Left-arm spin Bowler 3

Note: The players in bold are overseas players

 

Players bought at this year's IPL auction:

Dawid Malan
Shahrukh Khan
Moises Henriques
Fabian Allen
Saurabh Kumar
Jalaj Saxena
Utkarsh Singh
Riley Meredith
Jhye Richardson

Overall win-loss record in IPL:

PlayedWonLostNo ResultWin%W/L ratio
190 88 102 0 46.32 0.86

Note: The win/loss tally includes results in Super Over after a tie

Best finish in IPL:

Runner-up in 2014


How they fared in each edition:

YearPosition
2008 SF
2009 5th
2010 8th
2011 5th
2012 6th
2013 6th
2014 2nd
2015 8th
2016 8th
2017 5th
2018 7th
2019 6th
2020 6th

 

Top batsmen:

 GamesRunsHighest ScoreAverageStrike Rate10050
S E Marsh 71 2477 115 39.95 132.74 1 20
K L Rahul 42 1922 132* 54.91 140.08 2 17
D A Miller 79 1850 101* 34.25 138.78 1 9
G J Maxwell 65 1294 95 24.41 158.77 0 6
C H Gayle 31 1146 104* 40.92 146.73 1 10
W P Saha 57 1115 115* 24.77 131.95 1 5
Mandeep Singh 61 1058 77* 23.00 122.88 0 4
K C Sangakkara 37 1009 94 31.53 129.52 0 8
Yuvraj Singh 51 959 58* 22.30 127.69 0 3
M Vohra 45 957 95 24.53 132.73 0 3

Top bowlers:

 GamesWicketsAverageRuns Per OverBest4W
P P Chawla 87 84 26.63 7.52 4-17 1
S Sharma 56 71 22.35 7.77 4-20 2
A R Patel 68 61 28.93 7.52 4-21 1
I K Pathan 42 47 24.80 7.79 3-24 0
P Awana 33 39 26.38 8.26 4-34 1
Mohammed Shami 28 39 23.76 8.60 3-15 0
M M Sharma 37 33 34.51 9.19 3-23 0
P Kumar 44 31 37.16 6.96 2-10 0
Azhar Mahmood 22 29 22.72 7.61 3-20 0
M G Johnson 26 28 31.64 8.83 2-19 0

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com

RAJNEESH GUPTA