IPL team guide: Kings XI Punjab

Sport360 staff 10:40 04/04/2017
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    WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?

    IPL 2016 was a forgettable season for Kings XI Punjab [KXIP] as they finished at the bottom of the table after managing to win just four matches.

    Their campaign began with David Miller leading the side, but the South African batsman’s poor performances and the team’s poor showing on the field saw Murali Vijay take on the captaincy role towards the end of the season.

    Vijay was also Kings XI Punjab’s best batsman, scoring 453 runs at an average of just under 35 and a strike-rate of 124.45.

    Sandeep Sharma continued to impress, taking 15 wickets and conceding just 7.32 runs per over in 2016. Axar Patel and Mohit Sharma also made solid contributions with the ball, picking up 13 wickets a piece during the tournament.

    WHAT IS NEW THIS YEAR?

    The team from Punjab have added some muscle to their batting with the experienced international duo of Eoin Morgan and Martin Guptill.

    KXIP managed to snap up T Natarajan, an exciting fast bowler from Tamil Nadu who made a name for himself during the Tamil Nadu Premier League last year with his death-over bowling.

    In the pace department, they also bought India’s Varun Aaron and New Zealand’s Matt Henry in the auction while World T20-winning captain Darren Sammy will make his return to the league at the Punjab-based franchise.

    Exciting young batsman Rinku Singh and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh were also bought by KXIP.

    Late in the day, KXIP managed to bring in Indian pacer Ishant Sharma as a replacement for the injured Vijay.

    HOW WILL THEY DO?

    It’ll be interesting to see how Glenn Maxwell marshals his troops as he takes over as the captaincy. Maxwell and Miller failed to make an impact last season with the bat and they simply can’t afford a repeat of that.

    Although the Kings XI seem to have a more balanced squad this time around, they are likely to struggle to make it to the final four of the competition.

    SQUAD LIST

    Captain: Glenn Maxwell (overseas)

    Batsmen: David Miller (overseas), Manan Vohra, Shaun Marsh (overseas), Armaan Jaffer, Hashim Amla (overseas), Eoin Morgan (overseas), Martin Guptill (overseas), Rinku Singh.

    All-rounders: Axar Patel, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Marcus Stoinis (overseas), Darren Sammy (overseas), Rahul Tewatia.

    Wicket-keepers: Wriddhiman Saha, Nikhil Naik.

    Bowlers: Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, KC Cariappa, Matt Henry (overseas), T Natarajan, Varun Aaron, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Ishant Sharma.

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