Rechristened Punjab Kings seek revival
Rahul and Co look to make amends for last year’s poor show
Hyderabad: Captain KL Rahul has been in the form of his life in the last three seasons in the Indian Premier League. He was the leading run-scorer (Orange Cap) in the previous season with 670 runs. He was second in the batting charts last year and third earlier to that year.
However, his team’s performance was below par. They finished sixth in the last two seasons and seventh a season before that. With the IPL trophy still eluding, the franchise – called Kings XI Punjab earlier – changed their name to Punjab Kings in search of lady luck.
But whether the new name brings any change in their fortunes is a million dollar question. To begin with, they have assembled a good squad after the mini auctions this year. They had the biggest purse of Rs 53.20 cr going into auctions having released costly players – including the likes of Glenn Maxwell.
They have spent Rs 14 cr for Australian pacer Jhye Richardson who had a good Big Bash League. They also roped in uncapped player Riley Meredith for Rs 8 cr. They shelled out Rs 5.25 for Shahrukh Khan, who was impressive in Indian domestic season, and Rs 4.20 cr for Moises Henriques.
On the turf, what went wrong for the Punjab team was their tactics. Despite having the likes of T20’s most dangerous batsman in Chris Gayle, he was given only seven games in the entire season. But with Gayle showing that he still got his big-hitting abilities, Rahul and coach Anil Kumble will look to give as many games as possible to the Universal Boss. They have also lost far too many close matches in the season from winning positions.
Rahul, who had to step away from his aggressive batting style to play anchor role to bind the innings together, expressed his displeasure for not crossing the line in many matches. Punjab also looks to pocket-size dynamo Nicholas Pooran and top T20-ranked batsman Dawid Malan to come out all guns blazing.
The 2014 runners-up have good variety in the bowling department too with Richardson, Mohammed Shami but the team needs to find their finishing skills in tense moments if they have to see a turnaround.
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