mancalledsting Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 (edited) @Trichromatic A passionate and proud state with a rich sporting tradition, Kings XI Punjab as a franchise has the potential to generate the fierce regional support afforded to the likes of KKR and CSK. Unfortunately under the lacklustre leadership of the current owners, the franchise has capitulated to regularly finishing in the bottom half of the league table. Empty stadiums, an apathetic fan base, Kings XI Punjab has a lot of prove to its state this season. Amongst so called experts, they are not a highly rated outfit. That will suit a team containing many players with multiple points to prove. Gayle and Yuvraj will be desperate to show the world they’ve still got what it takes. KL Rahul, Ashwin, Karun Nair, Mayank Aggarwal and Axar Patel will be keen to remind the Indian National selectors of their capabilities. The x-factor for the Kings XI this season could be the captaincy and bowling of Ashwin, a fantastic all round cricketer with a sharp brain for the game. His thirst to constantly improve has led to him shedding some mass and introducing a leg spinner into his already wide repertoire. Whether this will translate into effective leadership and improved on field performance remains to be seen. One area that the Kings XI have definitely improved upon in relation to seasons gone past is the introduction of high quality Indian talent. This will help them populate their starting line up without the glaring talent gaps that were frequently observed in previous seasons. In AJ Tye they have one of the highest rated domestic t20 bowlers in the world although this coming season on Indian wickets especially, will help to demonstrate whether or not the hype is justified. With Axar and Ashwin, the Kings XI have an international quality spin attack and in combination with AJ Tye could form a potent bowling force. The latter two bowling options are where the Kings XI could be exploited with Mohit Sharma and Barinder Sran making up the numbers. If Mohit could re discover his form of 3 years ago and if Sran capitalises well on his left arm angle, supplemented by the part time bowling of Marcus Stoinis, Yuvraj and Gayle, the Kings XI may have one of the best and most varied bowling attacks in the competition this year. With the batting, the squad contains many explosive players but with one caveat; form. If Gayle, Yuvraj and Miller are all on form, there is no ground in the world or scoreboard total large enough to contain them. With Gayle and Yuvraj ageing and Miller out of form for the past 2 seasons, the franchise owners will be hoping they all bring their A game. Miller’s recent experience on spinning tracks against Chahal and Kuldeep in South Africa may mean that he copes better on Indian tracks this season. Aaron Finch certainly brings batting strength and experience to the lineup however with an array of competent top order players at the Kings XI’s disposal, they may be better served by deploying him down the order in the finisher role, as he did expertly in the recently concluded tri-series in New Zealand. Marcus Stoinis showed good capability against the turning ball when Australia recently toured India, if he could improve his strike rate and chip in with some handy overs, he could be a key player for his franchise this season. The wild card for Punjab could be the highly rated teenage spinning sensation from Afghanistan, Mujeeb Zadran. Touted as a mystery spinner, if he has a similar impact to Rashid Khan, he will be a huge plus for the side. Brad Hodge joins the tactical think tank to bring some much needed orthodoxy to the coaching staff which is already full of charisma in the form of Virender Sehwag. Prediction: will make the play-offs (on the proviso that the best side and combination is selected). Proposed starting XI: Gayle Aggarwal KL Rahul (wk) Yuvraj Finch Miller/Stoinis (dependant on form and if playing on turning track) Axar Ashwin (C) Tye Mohit Sran Edited April 7, 2018 by mancalledsting The Dark Horse, Lannister, Trichromatic and 1 other 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trichromatic Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 Excellent write up. Thank you @mancalledsting. mancalledsting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philcric Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 The dark horse this year IMO. I hope they do well. M Agarwal K Nair + K Rahul Y Singh A Finch M Stoinis A Patel * R Ashwin A Tye M Sharma M Ur Rahman mancalledsting 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBN Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 (edited) kxip lacking good overseas middle order hitter. surprised kxip kept miller but let go maxwell. last year miller had sr of ~100 while maxwell even when out of form was 2nd highest run scorer with sr of ~170. miller is too one-dimensional..goes missing against spin. mayank and tiwary have been in good form.. let's see if tiwary makes the team instead of a pacer too many openers, not sure how nair fits into this team if not opening Edited April 7, 2018 by PBN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sourab10forever Posted April 7, 2018 Share Posted April 7, 2018 13 minutes ago, philcric said: The dark horse this year IMO. I hope they do well. M Agarwal K Nair + K Rahul Y Singh A Finch M Stoinis A Patel * R Ashwin A Tye M Sharma M Ur Rahman Gayle Agarwal KLR Nair Yuvi Miller Stoinis Axar Ash Tye Mohit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancalledsting Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 4 hours ago, Trichromatic said: Excellent write up. Thank you @mancalledsting. No problem bhai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancalledsting Posted April 7, 2018 Author Share Posted April 7, 2018 2 hours ago, PBN said: kxip lacking good overseas middle order hitter. surprised kxip kept miller but let go maxwell. last year miller had sr of ~100 while maxwell even when out of form was 2nd highest run scorer with sr of ~170. miller is too one-dimensional..goes missing against spin. mayank and tiwary have been in good form.. let's see if tiwary makes the team instead of a pacer too many openers, not sure how nair fits into this team if not opening You make a lot of good points.Miller was a lot cheaper than Maxwell, hence retained late in the day. You say that we lack middle order batting firepower and that’s precisely why I’d play Finch down the order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beetle Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 Any one here starting the 4:00 pm match thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannister Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 They should've went for someone as a backup option for Yuvraj. He has lost all kind of Cricketing ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dark Horse Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 Jaab well done.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowl_out Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 4 minutes ago, Lannister said: They should've went for someone as a backup option for Yuvraj. He has lost all kind of Cricketing ability. Thank god they didn’t make him captain Lannister 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velu Posted April 8, 2018 Share Posted April 8, 2018 my team rahul agarwal ( will underachieve though ) Finch Nair Miller UV stoins ashwin axar Tye mohit very weak pace bowling unit and pie chcucking spinners though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannister Posted April 9, 2018 Share Posted April 9, 2018 5 minutes ago, Under_Score said: If UV continues to play test match innings in T20 games, then other deserving players should be given opportunities to play instead, he was a Six Hit king back in the days...sad to see him playing so overcautious & scared...shame!! The franchise owners should be blamed for that for even picking him in the first place. There were so many youngsters who could have been bought at the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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