IPL 2021: Predicting team positions at the end of the league stage

6. Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings would have been one of the more satisfied teams after the auction given the talent they filled their squad with, but that talent is yet to produce results on the field. They have once again been over-dependent on KL Rahul with the others failing to deliver on a regular basis.

This can be evident by the fact that in the three games where he scored less than 20, PBKS couldn’t even cross 130 while in the other three games in which he scored half-centuries, they batted well and won two of them. This will have to change if they are to keep their hopes of a playoff spot alive and players like Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, and Nicholas Pooran have to shoulder more responsibility.

While Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, and Ravi Bishnoi have been impressive thus far the others including their big buys in the form of Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith have failed. Now, the biggest problem that has come in for PBKS is the sudden health issue of KL Rahul. He has been hospitalized and will have to undergo surgery to get rid of appendicitis. It will be a thing to see when Rahul would be able to make his comeback and how Punjab men will manage the team in his absence.