Like the flamboyant region they represent, the Kings XI Punjab has been hot and cold in the IPL. Despite playing in a final once, they have never been able to win the IPL Trophy. This year in the auction, their Bollywood Queen Preity Zinta splurged every penny she had, bid for every player she could and managed to put together a mighty squad. Let’s dive in details.
Kings XI Punjab – IPL History
| Year | Matches | Wins | Losses | No Result | Win % | End Position |
| 2008 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 66.66% | 3rd |
| 2009 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 50.00% | 5th |
| 2010 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 28.57% | 8th |
| 2011 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 50.00% | 5th |
| 2012 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 50.00% | 6th |
| 2013 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 50.00% | 6th |
| 2014 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 70.58% | 2nd |
| 2015 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 21.43% | 8th |
| 2016 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 28.57% | 8th |
| 2017 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 50.00% | 5th |
Best Performance:
In the 2014 IPL season, Glenn Maxwell truly arrived on the scene for Kings XI Punjab and played many match-winning knocks to take the team to the highest spot in the group stage. They earned the direct entry into the final by winning the first qualifier. Wriddhiman Saha smashed 115* to launch KXIP to the total of 199, it took a ‘Manish Pandey’ special to stop Punjab from winning the IPL.
Also Read: IPL 2018 Preview: Delhi Darvedevils – The Ultimate Underachievers
Worst Performance:
Quite amusingly, Punjab’s worst performance came right after they had their best. In the 2015 IPL season, they could win only three of their league games under the captaincy of George Baily to end up at the last spot.
Strength:
The batting line-up of Punjab is studded with Indian batsmen who are in excellent form. Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, and KL Rahul have had a great season with Karnataka. They will, without a doubt, be the reason of envy for all other teams.
R.Ashwin who has been removed from India’s limited overs set-up will be eager to prove his credentials and what better stage for him to do that than the IPL. He will also be captaining an IPL team for the first time. Being a thinking cricketer he is, the bowling captain will be able to influence the team in a different way.
Weakness:
The major problem for Punjab this season will be the lack of consistency in the home venue fixtures. They will play three matches in Mohali and four matches in Indore due to logistical issues. This will not allow them to play to their strength and lose out on home advantage.
Punjab lacks depth in the Indian pace bowling department as well. They do not boast anyone of high quality to partner Andrew Tye. Mohit Sharma and Barinder Sran will have to work harder this season to match that standard.
The absence of a quality wicketkeeper means an extra load of keeping on KL Rahul which may hamper his batting as he has never kept wickets so extensively. Their backup keeper Akshdeep Nath is an unknown entity in the IPL.
Also Read: IPL Auction 2018: Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)
Prediction for IPL 11:
Kings XI Punjab has matchwinners in their ranks and their batting line-up looks really strong on paper. Their bowling although may be a cause for concern since it may get torn apart and they will struggle with the lack of back-ups.
If batting manages to cover the blind spots of bowling, KXIP can hope to make it to the Playoffs.
Expected End Position: 5th or 6th
Full Squad:
Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin (c), Andrew Tye, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Karun Nair, Mujeeb Zadran, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, David Miller, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Singh Sran, Yuvraj Singh, Christopher Gayle, Ben Dwarshuis, Akshdeep Nath, Manoj Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, Manzoor Dar, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar
