After suffering the villainy of the Right To Match card on the first day of the auction, Preity Zinta-co-owned Kings XI Punjab put together a squad (mostly) of T20 veterans. Axar Patel apart, the side chose not to retain any of its players from last year’s squad. Some of the players they targeted – including Shikhar Dhawan and Rashid Khan – were grabbed from them by other teams via their RTM cards.

Still, Punjab’s squad sheet boasts of some big names in T20 cricket. They have the possessors of these records: quickest T20 fifty, most sixes in T20, most runs in T20, most hundreds in T20, fastest T20 hundred, fastest T20I hundred, highest T20 score and more. Five of these belong to Chris Gayle, who, surprisingly wasn’t brought when he first came up for sale. David Miller, Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Ravichandran Ashwin and Andrew Tye are the other T20 giants in the squad.

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A string of four defeats in the first half last year heavily hurt the Kings XI’s play-off chances. Glenn Maxwell seemed to be lacking the leadership to turn his team’s fortunes around, and by the time the team found second wind, it was late. Ravichandran Ashwin, this year, is expected to lead. If it happens, his tryst with captaincy and how it affects Punjab’s (one of the three sides yet to win IPL) chances will make for interesting viewing.

Here’s a look at the KXIP squad:

Squad breakdown

Total players: 21

Overseas players: 7

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Batsmen: Aaron Finch (o), Chris Gayle (o), David Miller (o), KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Manoj Tiwary.

All-rounders: Manzoor Dar, Axar Patel, Akshdeep Nath, Marcus Stoinis (o), Mayank Dagar, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin.

Bowlers: Ben Dwarshuis (o), Ankit Rajpoot, Barinder Sran, Mujeeb Zadran (o), Pardeep Sahu, Mohit Sharma, Andrew Tye (o).

Strengths

  • Chris Gayle: The teams’ apprehension in buying him when his name first came up in the auction is well-understood. The “Universe Boss” hasn’t scored a lot in the last two editions (200 in nine games in 2017, 227 from 10 games in 2016). But team director Virender Sehwag, who reportedly suggested the team owners to buy Gayle, knows a thing or two about the impact an attacking opener can make. And, the hundreds he scored in the Bangladesh Premier League (in conditions similar to India, albeit against inferior bowling attacks) suggest the fuel’s still left in Gayle’s tank. The Jamaican will be Punjab’s linchpin if he finds form. 
  • Ashwin’s leadership: On many occasions, Ashwin and his leader at Chennai Super Kings have combined to make comebacks whilst being down defending modest totals. The street smarts he’s got having played gully cricket in Chennai and is open to experimentation and out-of-the-box ideas. Of course, this is assuming he will be made the captain.
  • Batting: Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle and David Miller are belligerent power-hitters. Even if one of them click in a match, there won’t be too many totals that Punjab can’t chase or set. The presence of these behemoths also takes the pressure away from Rahul, their most expensive buy, and he can take his time to settle in and maximise his starts.

Weaknesses

  • Lack of a specialist ’keeper: A bye saved, a half-chance taken, a tough stumping done sometimes prove to be the winning moment of a T20 game. Which is why teams buy a specialist wicket-keepers. Kings XI Punjab, though, don’t seem to subscribe to this school of thought. They’re likely to make KL Rahul keep wickets as he has prior (albeit, not very successful) experience with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. And this might increase his workload and affect his batting. Or, if they make Akshdeep Nath keep wickets, someone from the ideal playing XI (below) will have to make way for him.
  • Fast bowlers: The pace battery of Kings XI seems lacking in resources. Their experienced pacer, Mohit Sharma, they got through RTM. But his figures from last year fail to impress: 13 wickets from 14 games isn’t praise-worthy when one finds his economy-rate touching almost nine an over. Andrew Tye, who can bounce and bowl the yorkers well, also leaked runs aplenty for Gujarat Lions last year.
  • Uncertainty of Ashwin’s bowling: Ashwin last bowled in a T20 game – against West Indies – in July last year. That was his only T20 game of 2017. Last year’s IPL he skipped to recover from an injury. With the bowling attack already lacking in strength, a lot would hinge on Ashwin, especially while defending small totals.

Ideal playing XI

KL Rahul (wk), Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Mohit Sharma, Andrew Tye and Ankit Rajpoot.

Prediction for IPL XI

If their batting clicks, the play-off chances for the Kings XI Punjab burn bright. But whoever leads the team must maximise the team’s limited resources in bowling for it to go all the way.