Team Preview
The 16th Season of Indian Premier League is around the corner and fans cannot curb their excitement. You can catch our IPL 2023 Overview here. In this article, we will talk about the Punjab Kings in detail.
With regular skipper Pant still on road to recovery, Delhi Capitals, under a new skipper in David Warner will look to continue their good showing in the tournament off late, which has seen them make it to the Play-Offs in 3 of the last 4 seasons. Their bowling was a major concern last season, but a fit again Khaleel Ahmed could well be that missing link that’ll hold the bowling attack together. The batting is already stacked with some ferocious power hitters, which is also likely to give them a headache when deciding between their overseas picks in the XI
Last Season Standings: With 7 wins & as many losses, they finished 5th on the points tally
Schedule of DC Matches
Match 3: April 1, Saturday: Lucknow Super Giants vs Delhi Capitals at Lucknow at 7:30 PM
Match 7: April 4, Tuesday: Delhi Capitals vs Gujarat Titans at Delhi at 7:30 PM
Match 11: April 8, Saturday: Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Capitals at Guwahati at 3:30 PM
Match 16: April 11, Tuesday: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians at Delhi at 7:30 PM
Match 20: April 15, Saturday: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Delhi Capitals at Bengaluru at 3:30 PM
Match 28: April 20, Thursday: Delhi Capitals vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Delhi at 7:30 PM
Match 34: April 24, Monday: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Capitals at Hyderabad at 7:30 PM
Match 40: April 29, Saturday: Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad at Delhi at 7:30 PM
Match 44: May 2, Tuesday: Gujarat Titans vs Delhi Capitals at Ahmedabad at 7:30 PM
Match 50: May 6, Saturday: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at Delhi at 7:30 PM
Match 55: May 10, Wednesday: Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Capitals at Chennai at 7:30 PM
Match 59: May 13, Saturday: Delhi Capitals vs Punjab Kings at Delhi at 7:30 PM
Match 64: May 17, Wednesday: Punjab Kings vs Delhi Capitals at Dharamshala at 7:30 PM
Match 67: May 20, Saturday: Delhi Capitals vs Chennai Super Kings at Delhi at 3:30 PM
You can check the Overall IPL Schedule here.
SQUAD
BATTERS: David Warner (c), Prithvi Shaw, Rilee Rossouw, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Yash Dhull
ALL-ROUNDERS: Mitchell Marsh, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Aman Khan, Ripal Patel
BOWLERS: Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lungi Ngidi, Ishant Sharma, Mukesh Kumar, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Praveen Dubey, Mustafizur Rahman, Vicky Ostwal
WKs: Phil Salt, Sarfaraz Khan
Changes to the Roster from last season
Major INs:
Rilee Rossouw, Aman Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey
Major OUTs:
Rishabh Pant, Shardul Thakur
Key Players
Kuldeep Yadav – Bowler (Left Arm Leg Break)
Getting picked by DC came as a great boon for Kuldeep last season, who had only picked 22 wickets across the 4 seasons before. He finished with 21 wickets at an average of 20 last season. His tally of wickets were the most by a DC bowler and 5th most in the competition overall. He was often entrusted to bowl in the later half of the innings last season, and that has certainly helped him develop his game beyond measures. Since then he’s been a regular part of the Indian XI, and would be hoping to continue more of the same this season
Mitchell Marsh – All Rounder (Right Hand Batter/Right Arm Medium)
Marsh was in red hot form for DC last year, and has once again been the talk of the town after his spectacular returns at the top of the order during the India ODIs. His rich vein of form means DC’s No. 3 is in great hands. The only thing concerning DC will be his track record with injuries in the competition. He has never played one full season in the competition’s history, and had to miss few games last season too with a hip injury
IPL 2022: Inns- 8 | Runs- 251 | Avg- 31 | SR- 133
Axar Patel – All Rounder (Left Hand Batter/Left Arm Orthodox)
Axar was deservingly appointed Warner’s deputy ahead of the season. Leaving aside the last season, which didn’t go as per plan for him with the ball, he’s been giving it his all in whatever capacity he’s been asked to deliver in, ever since joining the franchise. He’s always on point with his line & lengths and variations with the ball, being one of the toughest domestic spinners to score off, and now with the kind of maturity & growth evident in his batting within the past year for India is anything to by, the Capitals are in great hands
Axar’s:
IPL 2022 batting aggregates: Inns- 10 | Runs- 182 | Avg- 46 | SR- 152
Overall Bowling aggregates for DC: Inns- 54 | Wkts- 40 | SR- 28 | Eco- 6.9
Ones to Watch Out for
Rilee Rossouw – Batter (Left Hand Batter)
Rossouw is making a return to the IPL after 8 years. With Warner, Marsh & Nortje being the 1st 3 choices, it all comes down to Powell & Rossouw for the final OS slot. Powell had a good season last time with DC, but benching Rossouw who’s currently in the form of his life won’t be the wisest of moves. He also fills in the left handed batter’s void left in the middle order in Pant’s absence. Expect DC to cash-in on Rossouw’s current run of form, and he could well end up lighting the tournament with his dazzling strokeplay
Rossouw’s PSL 2023 aggregates: Inns- 11 | Runs- 453 | Avg- 45 | SR- 172
Aman Khan – All Rounder (Right Hand Batter/Right Arm Medium)
DC made a surprising move in the pre-season, when they decided to trade Shardul Thakur to KKR and opted for his fellow Mumbai teammate Aman Khan in return. Head coach Ponting has been very impressed with what he’s seen off him in the nets in lead up to this season. He has all the makings of a very good finisher, but needs a bit of work to develop fully as a bowler
He had a good season with Mumbai during the SMAT: Inns- 7 | Runs- 108 | Avg- 22 | SR- 174 | Wkts- 4 | SR- 27
What do you think then are CSK’s chances for this IPL Season?
