Rabada, Sikandar Raza To Be Benched? PBKS' Best Playing XI For IPL 2024


image-lqdsckt1PBKS' co-owner with Sanjay Bangar (x.com)

The IPL 2024 auction is done and dusted, all teams have done what they could do in the IPL and now the stage is set for another epic season of the biggest T20 league in the world. Punjab Kings, the team that normally does not attract much attention is slowly but surely taking right steps towards making 2024 a memorable season for them.

For the first time in their IPL history, they retained majority of their players going into the auction and have a settled look to their side. They were not fancy in their choices in auction as well and have decided to go with local talent as backups to their already established players.

Punjab Kings have some quality international superstars with plenty of talented Indian youngsters with Shikhar Dhawan at the helm. If they all fire in unison, it would be pretty hard to stop them as one of the feature of their line-up is the power in their batting line-up.


Punjab Kings Full Squad - 

Shikhar Dhawan (C), Arshdeep Singh, Atharva Taide, Harpreet Brar, Harpreet Bhatia, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jonny Bairstow (WK), Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, Nathan Ellis, Prabhsimran Singh (WK), Rahul Chahar, Rishi Dhawan, Sam Curran, Shivam Singh, Sikandar Raza, Vidwath Kaverappa, Harshal Patel, Chris Woakes, Ashutosh Sharma, Shashank Singh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Tanay Thyagarajann, Prince Choudhary, Rilee Rossouw.

There will be some headache for the team management to choose their four overseas players as their all 8 overseas players are match-winners on their day. However, Punjab Kings are most likely to go with Jonny Bairstow at number 3, while Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran with their all-round skills will play in the lower middle order. Meanwhile, Kagiso Rabada might not start as an overseas pacer and Punjab look quite solid on paper.

They have bought in Harshal Patel who will play alongside Arshdeep Singh as a specialist Indian pacer while Rahul Chahar will be the spin option along with Liam Livingstone. Two young Indian batters Prabhsimran Singh and Atharva Taide will most probably take important positions of number 3 and number 4.

Their are quality options though in all departments for both Indian and overseas players like Vidwath Kaverappa, Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza and they might come into picture if conditions or form demand.


Punjab Kings Playing XI -

Shikhar Dhawan (C)
Prabhsimran Singh
Jonny Bairstow ✈️
Harpreet Singh Bhatia
Liam Livingstone ✈️
Jitesh Sharma (WK)
Sam Curran ✈️
Harshal Patel
Rahul Chahar
Nathan Ellis ✈️
Arshdeep Singh

Punjab Kings have the arsenal on paper to challenge any team in the IPL 2024 and this might just be the season where they unleash all their might.