IPL 2021 | Team Preview: Will change in name bring the much awaited change in fortunes for Punjab Kings?

What’s in the name? Said someone, well that person needs to take a look at the Indian Premier League’s North Indian franchises. In 2019 it was Delhi Daredevils who changed to Delhi Capitals and now it is Kings XI Punjab who has changed to Punjab Kings. With Delhi, the change in fortunes did happen as it made to its first-ever final only one year later.  Will the name change bring in good fortunes for Punjab too. 

The last season of the Punjab Kings could well be described as being a roller coaster ride with the team travelling on extremes. After winning the first two games, the Kings lost five on the trot before coming back and winning five in a row, making themselves a strong contender to make the playoffs. However, they lost the last two games and thus got out of the race. 

But now, it’s a new season and with almost a brand new team, the Kings would obviously like to change a thing or two from the past, that includes their approach towards a season. 

2021 IPL Mini Auction: Punjab shopped well

The Kings went into the auction for the 2021 season with the biggest purse for any franchise. They did make good use of that and got players that they wanted. They were in search of two quality pacers who could bowl at the death and they got two Aussies in Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith. Further, they needed someone at the top who could accelerate right from the start and was consistent in his batting and thus they went for the Englishman Dawid Malan. There was also a need for a late order flourisher who could also bowl a bit off-spin and getting the Tamil Nadu hitter Shahrukh Khan solved that problem of the team. 

Apart from the requirements, they also shopped for backups and in that package got two all-rounders Moises Henriques and Fabien Allen. Several Indians including fast bowler Saurabh Kumar, all-rounder Utkarsh Singh and experienced spin bowling all-rounder Jalaj Saxena were bought by Punjab Kings. 

Full Squad

Lokesh Rahul, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel, Utkarsh Singh, Moises Henriques (O), Jhye Richardson (O), Mandeep Singh, Chris Jordan (O), Deepak Hooda, Ravi Bishnoi, Riley Meredith (O), Arshdeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Gayle (O), Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami, Darshan Nalkande, Shahrukh Khan, Nicholas Pooran (O), Fabian Allen (O), Murugan Ashwin, Dawid Malan (O), Saurabh Kumar, Jalaj Saxena, Prabhsimran Singh

(O) indicates Overseas Players

Support Staff

Anil Kumble - Director Of Cricket Operations, Andy Flower- Assistant Coach, Avinash Vaidya- General Manager - Cricket Operations, Wasim Jaffer- Batting Coach, Jonty Rhodes- Fielding Coach, Damien Wright- Bowling Coach, Ashish Tuli- Team Analyst, Andrew Leipus- Physio, Adrian Le Roux- Strength And Conditioning Coach, Naresh Kumar- Masseur

Dawid Malan to the top order rescue?

Punjab Kings were one of the top reams on paper last year. With the likes of Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Chris Gayle at the top, they were bound to get great starts. However, the team never really got that start as their skipper KL Rahul couldn’t score with the flourish that he had done in previous seasons. Even Chris Gayle took time while settling down. Too slow starts meant that they were not able to finish well either. 

Another reason for that failure was the dismal run of form that Glenn Maxwell went through last season. Nicholas Pooran was the only glimmer of hope. Thus the introduction of Dawid Malan is a step towards changing that approach and going for the kills right from the word go. 

Malan, although one of the mild English batsmen at the start of his innings has a career strike rate of 144 in T20Is and it goes along with an average of more than 50. Thus the 33-year-old being at the top would give some liberty for Rahul to build and anchor the innings the way he wishes to. 

Malan playing would also mean that either among Nicholas Pooran and Chris Gayle can be tried, Porran first and then carried on depending upon their form. This would therefore make the job of a coach and captain easy giving flexibility to the players.  

Australian pacers charge the Punjab pace battery

Apart from the problem of aggressive start with the bat, another problem that the men in ‘Red and Grey’ faced, was their death over bowling. Barring a few matches in the latter part of the season, the fast bowlers went for plenty in the last five. This includes 82 and 89 against Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians. On average, they gave away more than 50 runs in their last five overs, that too when they conceded as less than 17, 24, and 35 in three innings. 

Death bowling for Punjab was a massive problem and to cure that they have got two really quick and on the money bowlers in the form of Meredith and Richardson. While the Tasmanian Meredith has an economy of just over eight, Western Australian Richardson clocks below eight, giving confidence that they are the right picks for the slots. 

Apart from being economical, the Aussies are also wicket-taking in nature, with Richardson coming on the back of a scintillating BBL season in which he took 29 wickets in 17 innings. Meredith, might not have been the top-notch wicket-takers with just 16 wickets in his kitty, but he sure was a force to reckon with and a man to go to in crunch situations. 

The signing of these two pacers will also act as a confident booster for the Indian pacers like Mohammad Shami, Ishan Porel and Arshdeep Singh, who are going to play an important part in the Kings’ campaign. 

Neutral venues: A blessing in disguise for Punjab?

This IPL season could be called a blessing in disguise for the Punjab side. As part of the neutral venue concept in which no team play at its home ground, the Kings from the north would be playing maximum of their league stage games at venues such as Wankhede, Motera and M. Chinnaswamy, all of which are known for their pitches, where the ball comes on to the bat and the pacers can take advantage of the bounce if they have the ability to do that. 

Punjab play three games at Wankhede, four at Motera and the last five at M. Chinnaswamy, with only two of their games to be staged at MA Chidamabaram in Chennai, a considerably slow track. With tracks supporting the ball coming on to the bat, the Kings batsmen in Malan, Rahul and Gayle would back themselves to steer the team home from any situation. And the fact that the ball would also get consistent bounce would make their pacers a better prospect than other bowlers o those pitches. 

The form of skipper Rahul

Rahul, 28, has slowed down in his batting strike rate over the years as far as IPL is concerned. From a season strike rate of 158 in 2018, the Karnataka born fell to 129 last year. He is making runs no doubt, but are those runs providing any benefit to the team? It is a question that both Rahul and the management need to ask each other. As far as his form is concerned then in the T20Is, it hasn’t been where his international rankings. Now, the number five ranked T20I batsman could only score only on fifty in his last seven innings. In fact, he was drooped in the last game of India against England as he could only make 15 runs in the last four innings. 

Although in the last two ODIs, he has hit form, scoring a half-century and a century in the process. This has given some hope to the Punjab fans, but only time is gonna prove whether it will be the Rahul of 2018 edition that Punjab needs or the Rahul of last season, only whose number of runs (scored) is desired, but not the manner in which they were scored. 

What are the chances?

With such a huge squad, which is extremely talented and provides for the backup player for almost every first-choice player, Punjab are once again looking like a side that is destined to finish in the top four. But that is only on the paper, where they finish in reality could only be said after the initial round of the 2021 IPL season. 

Best Possible XI

Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Dawid Malan, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Jhye Richardson, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Shami, Murugan Ashwin, Riley Meredith