Kings Eleven Punjab have generally languished at the bottom half of the table with the exception of their runner-up performance in the 2014 which came in the UAE and the semifinal appearance in the opening edition of the IPL way back in 2008.
Punjab look to have a good blend of domestic and international stars in their lineup for Season 13 and will be skippered by their star batsman KL Rahul for the first time in the league. With Indian spin great Anil Kumble at the helm of affairs as head coach, it will have to be seen if the Karnataka duo of Rahul and Kumble can work out some match winning strategies for the 'Kings' in UAE which has proved to be a happy hunting ground for the franchisee in the 2014 edition of the league.
The franchise retained their core group of players in Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, and Mohammed Shami and also spent wisely to rope in hard hitting Australian Glenn Maxwell, who comes back to the team for a a second stint, Windies seamer Sheldon Cottrell, India's U19 leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi and young pacer Ishan Porel.
KL Rahul And Chris Gayle To Provide Opening Salvo Up The Order
Punjab's batting fortunes will be largely dependent on their skipper KL Rahul and veteran Windies opener Chris Gayle, both of whom scored heavily for the franchise in the last edition of the tournament. They have the like of Mayank Agarwal who has bloomed into a very confident player at the international stage.
Glen Maxwell Will Spearhead The Middle Order With Support From Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh and Karun Nair
The middle order will largely revolve around the pugnacious strokemaker Glen Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran ,both of whom have shown how destructive they can be with the bat. While Maxwell will hope to replicate that scintillating form of his in the 2014 edition in the UAE, Pooran comes into the IPL on the back of a highly successful CPL campaign.
KXIP also have Mandeep Singh and Sarfaraz Khan who can support Maxwell and Pooran in the middle order during the course of the tournament.
Mohammad Shami and Sheldon Cottrel Will Lead The Seam Attack
The seam bowling attack will once again be spearheaded by Indian seamer Mohammad Shami who had a terrific outing last with 19 wickets from 14 games.
The seam attack will be bolstered by the inclusion of Windies seamer Sheldon Cottrel who can strike early blows with seam movement. KXIP also have death over specialist in Chris Jordan and Kiwi all-rounder James Neesham to lend depth to the seam attack.
With their front-line spinner Ravichandran Ashwin traded to Delhi Capitals, the spin attack surely seems weak. While Afghan spinner Mujeeb Zadran looks to be the only spinner with international recognition , all eyes will be on leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi who had a stellar campaign in the ICC 2020 U-19 World Cup.
Best Probable Playing XI: K L Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal / Karun Nair, Glenn Maxwell, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan / Sheldon Cottrel, Mohammad Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin / Ishan Porel
KXIP Full Squad For IPL 2020: K L Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, James Neesham, Chris Jordan, Mohammad Shami, Mujeeb Zadran, Sheldon Cottrell, Hardus Viljoen, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sarfraz Khan, K Gowtham, J Suchith, Ravi Bishnoi, Deepak Hooda, Tajinder Dhillon, Prabhsimran Singh, Ishan Porel, Murugan Ashwin.
KXIP COACHING STAFF:
Head Coach and Director of Cricket Operations Anil Kumble
Batting coach Wasim Jaffer
Spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi
Fielding coach Jonty Rhodes