Fresh chance at redemption
KINGS XI PUNJAB haven’t won the IPL but with Yuvraj Singh back along with buys like KL Rahul and Chris Gayle they have a good chance of creating history under new captain R Ashwin
Even after a decade in Indian Premier League, Kings XI Punjab is searching for that winning formula. That, in a nutshell, is Kings XI Punjab’s story in the IPL. And though Royal Challengers Bangalore have suffered a similar fate, Virat Kohli’s team has a better overall record.
Kings XI’s history is peppered with instances of chopping and changing at every available juncture but still the best they have come up is a runners-up finish in the 2014 edition. In 2017, they had finished fifth.
At the auction this year, Kings XI Punjab carried the biggest purse and added some formidable players. Big hitters Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle were notched up at base price while they broke bank for KL Rahul. Somehow, the team missed out on buying a specialist wicket-keeper.
Hence they are now left with two options —going in with greenhorn Akshdeep Nath or back Rahul, who has kept wickets occasionally. They have chosen an untested skipper in R Ashwin who is one of the more thinking cricketers around.
Also significant will be the experience brought by Yuvraj. From being a lynchpin of the India team, Yuvraj’s downfall was swift. Cancer derailed his career and since then he has been looking to get back into national reckoning. He did return to the national side on few occasions but hasn’t been able to cement his place .
For Yuvraj, it’s a sort of homecoming. The original marquee player for Kings XI Punjab at the inception of the league, Yuvraj has since moved around in the IPL— playing for Delhi Daredevils, Pune Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad. From a commanding ~14 crore with RCB, Yuvraj now has to settle with the base price. Big runs can surely restore his worth.
Numbers too back him as far as T20 is concerned. In 120 matches of IPL, he has scored 2587 runs with a 131-plus strike rate. There is no denying that Yuvraj is the cleanest and the biggest hitter of the ball. And he will surely be hoping for things to finally fall in place this year. 2008 2009 2011 OVERSEAS INDIAN
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