IPL 2018: Kings XI Punjab full squad

Kings XI Punjab have always been the underdogs in the Indian Premier League. Since starting the first season as the semi-finalists, the franchise from Punjab have suffered their way to the end of the IPL table a couple of times. However, since then the side has reached the finals in the 2014/15 season where they managed to get to the finals in a dominant fashion. In the finals, however, the side led by George Bailey were outclassed by the Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders side who won their second IPL title.

Post then, the franchise have made several changes to their squad as they roped in former Indian opener Virender Sehwag as their mentor from the 2015 IPL season. Also interestingly, the Kings XI Punjab management decided to rope in the Australian Brad Hodge as their coach from the 2018 season onwards. With a well-balanced squad in the Auction, it is likely to be seen if the Kings can roar back into the finals, and give their shot at the title.

Retention

The Preity Zinta owned side only retained one player during the off-season placing their faith in the Indian all-rounder Axar Patel. Axar Patel has been sensational with both the bat and the ball for the King’s XI side, scoring 606 runs in the 59 matches that he has played for the franchise.

At a retention price of 6.75 crores, the left-handed all-rounder has taken 58 wickets for KXIP, with his best bowling season coming in his debut season for the side in the year 2014. Kings XI Punjab had a total of three Right-to-match (RTM) cards that they had at their disposal ahead of the Auctions, with the franchise only retaining the Indian all-rounder Axar Patel.

The franchise from Punjab had a total of 67.5 crores which they could spend in the 2018 Auction, with Rajasthan Royals being the other franchise which had a similar purse after the retention of Steve Smith.

Most recognisable players bought

The franchise owned by Preity Zinta went in hard in the Auction, managing to acquire the services of the Indian offie Ravichandran Ashwin on the opening day of the IPL Auction.

Some of the most recognisable players bought by the franchise after two days of Auction are Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Aaron Finch and Chris Gayle. Ravi Ashwin (7.6 Cr), Yuvraj Singh (2 Cr), Karun Nair (5.6 Cr), KL Rahul (11 Cr), Aaron Finch (6.2 Cr) and Chris Gayle (2 Cr)

Batsmen

The franchise have made some pretty picks in the two-day IPL Auction, where they went head-on with the other franchises to get the top Indian batsmen. Kings XI Punjab managed to get hold of the Indian opener KL Rahul, who spent his IPL career with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Sunrisers Hyderabad. Alongside KL Rahul, KXIP managed to get his fellow state-mate Karun Nair.

Karun Nair’s white ball form has been impeccable playing for Karnataka this season in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle too were bagged by the franchise later on in the Auction while also getting hold of Aaron Finch, David Miller and Manoj Tiwary.

Also, the franchise picked up the budding star Akshdeep Nath for a meagre sum of Rs 1 crore.

All-rounders

Punjab already had the Indian all-rounder Axar Patel before the IPL Auction was underway on the 27th of January. Apart from Axar Patel, the franchise managed to get the Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin alongside the Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis.

The Indian contingent led by the retained player Axar Patel consists of Ashwin, the out-of-form and out-of-favour all-rounder Yuvraj Singh. Arguably, this has to go down as one of the best all-rounders segment that the KXIP have got in their arsenal.

Wicketkeepers

Despite boasting a good squad of batsmen and bowlers, the franchise did not pick a specialised keeper in their arsenal which led to a lot of troll for them on the social media. The only keeper in the Kings XI Punjab squad is none other than the Indian opener KL Rahul.

Bowlers

Brad Hodge’s side got hold of their former bowler Mohit Sharma and picked him up using the RTM card as Chennai Super Kings vied to get the right-arm bowler at 2.4 crores. Further, the side also picked up the former KKR bowler Ankit Rajpoot, who has proved his worth in the previous IPL season.

The side also went in to pick up the left-arm pacer Brinder Sran in the IPL Auction, where they once again went in for a bidding war with CSK for a sum of 2.2 crores. Australia’s Ben Dwarshuis was the latest addition to the Kings squad, where he joined for a price of 1.4 crores before they added the pace sensation Andrew Tye for a huge sum of 7.2 crores.

KXIP Full Squad:

For more updates on the IPL Auctions, follow CricTracker.