IPL 2017: Full schedule of Kings XI Punjab

Preity Zinta’s Kings XI Punjab has seen the most changes since the inauguration of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the year 2008. They began their journey in the tournament impressively by reaching the semi-final in 2008. Despite having a quality side in every season of the IPL, they have failed to maintain the form that they displayed in the first season of the IPL.

The side from Punjab has found themselves at the bottom of the table in three seasons- 2012, 2015 and 2016, a sight which any franchise would not want to see. KXIP has made many changes to their previous squad, releasing four players- Mitchell Johnson, Rishi Dhawan, Kyle Abbott and Farhan Behardien.

Johnson’s axing from the squad was probably the wisest one by the management as it would give space and cap for a talented foreign player. Johnson’s previous IPL season was poor as the pace bowler took only two wickets at an economy of 9.63 which hinted that the decision was around the corner.

Behardien, the South African all-rounder too was axed from the squad after scoring only 13 runs from three matches that he played for the franchise. It was another wise decision taken by the franchise, as the all-rounder would not have featured much in the team.

Abbott too was a similar decision for the management as the pace-bowler failed to impress the coach and staff with only two wickets in the IPL. However, the franchise was criticised for axing Rishi Dhawan, as the all-rounder showed glimpses of talent in the two games that he featured for his side.

KXIP management has done a pretty decent job in retaining the core team. There are only five overseas players in the squad- David Miller, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Marcus Stoinis and Hashim Amla. Amla is the only one who looks odd enough in the retained squad of foreigners.

Stoinis, in particular, has been in blazing form, which the world witnessed in Australia’s tour of New Zealand. The all-rounder’s form would make a huge difference to the outcome of Punjab’s season. Glenn Maxwell has been named as the new captain for the franchise from Punjab.

The other 14 retained players are Indians, which clearly shows the aim of the franchise.

The franchise picked up the talented left-arm seamer from Tamil Nadu T.Natarajan for a huge sum of Rs 3 crores. They further invested Rs. 2.8 crores for Varun Aaron, a decision which took the critics by surprise. Matt Henry, the seaming all-rounder from New Zealand, was bought at a decent sum of Rs. 50 lakhs.

England captain Eoin Morgan was picked up at a price of Rs.2 crores by the franchise alongside New Zealand opener Martin Guptill at Rs.50 lakhs. West Indies all-rounder and a seasoned IPL campaigner Darren Sammy was also picked by the management for Rs 30 lakhs.

Kings XI Punjab kick-off their season against the talented Rising Pune Supergiants’ on the 8th of April at the Holkar Stadium, Indore. They then clash against last year’s finalists Royal Challengers Bangalore on the 10th of April. The playoffs will start from 16th May until the 21st of May.

IPL 2017 Full squad of KXIP: David Miller, Manan Vohra, Axar Patel, Glenn Maxwell (C), Gurkeerat Singh, Anureet Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Shaun Marsh, Wriddhiman Saha, M Vijay, Nikhil Naik, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, KC Cariappa, Armaan Jaffer, Pardeep Sahu, Swapnil Singh, Hashim Amla, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Tewatia, T Natarajan, Matt Henry, Varun Aaron, Martin Guptill, Darren Sammy, Rinku Singh

Here is the full schedule for Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2017

Playoffs schedule