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.
As has been the case with the Punjab franchise right from the inception of the IPL, they always seem one of the strongest sides on paper but often end up underperforming. They always do the extra yards at the auction table, making the most number of moves, which they did again ahead of this season with the acquisition of Sam Curran at a record sum of ₹ 18.5 crores, breaking all records. They’ll be hoping to break records on field too, and luckily for them they’ve got enough quality players in their ranks to make that happen
Last Season Standings: The had a mid-table finish with 7 wins and 7 losses, taking the 6th spot
Schedule of PBKS Matches
Match 2: April 1, Saturday: Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Mohali at 3:30 PM
Match 8: April 5, Wednesday: Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings at Guwahati at 7:30 PM
Match 14: April 9, Sunday: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Punjab Kings at Hyderabad at 7:30 PM
Match 18: April 13, Thursday: Punjab Kings vs Gujarat Titans at Mohali at 7:30 PM
Match 21: April 15, Saturday: Lucknow Super Giants vs Punjab Kings at Lucknow at 7:30 PM
Match 27: April 20, Thursday: Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at Mohali at 3:30 PM
Match 31: April 22, Saturday: Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings at Mumbai at 7:30 PM
Match 38: April 27, Thursday: Punjab Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants at Mohali at 7:30 PM
Match 41: April 30, Sunday: Chennai Super Kings vs Punjab Kings at Chennai at 3:30 PM
Match 45: May 3, Wednesday: Punjab Kings vs Mumbai Indians at Mohali at 7:30 PM
Match 53: May 8, Monday: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings at Kolkata 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 66: May 19, Friday: Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals at Dharamshala at 7:30 PM
You can check the Overall IPL Schedule here.
SQUAD
BATTERS: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Atharva Taide, Shivam Singh
ALL-ROUNDERS: Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Matthew Short, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Mohit Rathee, Raj Bawa
BOWLERS: Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar, Nathan Ellis, Baltej Singh, Vidwath Kaverappa
WKs: Jitesh Sharma, Prabhsmiran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksha
Changes to the Roster from last season
Major INs:
Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Matthew Short
Major OUTs:
Mayank Agarwal, Jonny Bairstow, Odean Smith
Squad News/Changes:
- With Bairstow failing to recover on time, Matthew Short has joined the team as his replacement for the entirety of the season
Key Players
Sam Curran – All Rounder (Left Hand Batter/Left Arm Medium)
The costliest buy in IPL history is eager to get going with the team he made his IPL debut with, back in 2019. PBKS bowlers struggled for wickets in the death overs last season, with them managing just the 29 wickets in that phase, the 2nd least in the tournament after CSK’s 27. With Curran picking the 2nd most number wickets at the death during last year’s T20 WC, PBKS dishing all that money on him makes sense: Inns- 6 | Wkts- 9 | Avg- 8 | SR- 7 | Eco- 6.6
He already has a hat-trick for them, coming in his very 1st season vs DC, where he changed the game in their favour with his excellence at the death
Liam Livingstone – All Rounder (Right Hand Batter/Right Arm Leg Break)
Last season, whenever PBKS seemed like falling behind in the game, Livingstone kept lifting up the run rate almost single-handedly keeping them in the game all the time. It was because of his mad season with the bat, that they came on the brink of making it to the Top 4. He also possessed the golden arm, whenever the ball was thrown at him he provided timely breakthroughs. His overall aggregates last season being: Inns- 14 | Runs- 437 | Avg- 36 | SR- 182 | Wkts- 6 | SR- 23
He has spent most of the time on sidelines in recent times, recovering from knee injury. But he’s all set and raring to go, having toured UAE earlier this month with Lancashire, and being in competitive action for the 1st time since the Karachi Test late last year
Shikhar Dhawan – Batter (Left Hand Batter)
Dhawan was PBKS’ leading run-getter last season with 460 runs at an average of 38.33, and now has been presented with the golden opportunity to lead from the front. This will be his 1st season as full time captain of a franchise since IPL 2014, where he had to step down from captaincy midway. He’s the 2nd highest run-getter in the competition’s history with 6244 runs to his name, but his consistency in recent years has been top notch. No one has scored more runs than him since the start of IPL 2016, with him having crossed the 400 run mark in each of these past 8 seasons
One to Watch Out for
Matthew Short – All Rounder (Right Hand Batter/Off Spin)
Despite having joined the squad as a replacement, Short is likely to start ahead of the other OS batting options in the squad, with him being the only opening option available to fill in Bairstow’s void at the top. Picking him in the XI right from Game 1 should be a no brainer for the PBKS think tank, with him having scored runs for fun back home in Australia in each and every format at the same efficiency throughout the course of 2022-23. He was named the Player of the Tournament during last season’s BBL for his astonishing all-round aggregates: Inns- 14 | Runs- 458 | Avg- 35 | SR- 144| Wkts- 11 | Avg- 23 | SR- 19
Playing in conditions he has never played before will come in as a challenge for him, but his strong game against spin will make up for it
What do you think then are Punjab’s chances for this IPL Season?
