IPL 2021: Strongest Predicted Playing XIs of all teams

5. Punjab Kings

Punjab Kings was one of the few teams that were highly active during the auction and they made some big buys in order to improve their squad. The areas they are focused on were their middle order and bowling attack as it was evident that they weren’t particularly strong in those areas. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were quite good at the top of the order last season, and they have no reason to try and change anything over there.

Dawid Malan and Chris Gayle will fight for the No.3 slot, and it is expected that the former will be given first preference given that he is the world’s No.1 ranked T20I batsman. Nicholas Pooran was very impressive last season and his power-hitting during the middle overs will be key to their success. Deepak Hooda and Shahrukh Khan are the finishers in their XI, and this is an area where they could struggle a bit this season as both of them aren’t proven players despite all their talent.

Even their tail is a bit too long for their liking as their bowlers will start from No.7 itself. Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin were pretty good as the leg-spin duo last season and with the league set to be played in India, they will get even more assistance from the pitches. Mohammed Shami didn’t get much support from the other pacers, but it won’t be the case this season as they have bought two extremely talented Australian pacers in the form of Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith, who can bowl at any stage of the game.

Predicted Playing XI: KL Rahul (C and WK), Mayank Agarwal, Dawid Malan, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Riley Meredith, Murugan Ashwin