IPL 2018: Kings XI Punjab Squad Ratings

Kings XI Punjab auction ratings: 8.5/10

Barring the runners-up finished in 2014, Kings XI Punjab did not enjoy much success in the first ten seasons of the Indian Premier League. Their fortunes, however, is looking set to change for the Punjab-based franchise after they assembled a pretty solid squad for the upcoming eleventh season of the Indian Premier League. From buying veterans like Chris Gayle and Yuvraj Singh to youngsters like KL Rahul, Barinder Sran, and others, the perpetual under-performers of the league have built a team that has a good blend of experience and youth.

After missing out on Shikhar Dhawan through the Right to Match card, the Kings XI began the auction by snatching ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and ended it up by buying Chris Gayle, the most decorated batsman in the history of T20 cricket.

In KL Rahul, Aaron Finch and Chris Gayle, the Kings XI have three openers who can blow away any bowling lineup. They also have the luxury of replacing one of the proven players with the in-form Mayank Agarwal who scored over 1,000 runs in the last Ranji Trophy season.

The middle-order is equally explosive with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Manoj Tiwary and Karun Nair set to dazzle. In Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel, the Punjab-based outfit has two brilliant allrounders while there are very spinners who can do it better than Ravichandran Ashwin. Yuvraj Singh can also chip in with a couple of overs if the situation demands.

While they have a compact batting line up, the bowling unit looks pretty stable with the likes of Mohit Sharma, Andrew Tye, Barinder Sran, Axar Patel and Ankit Rajpoot.

So all in all, the Kings XI have built a squad that is more than capable of challenging for the trophy, and we will give their squad a rating of 8.5 out of 10.

Kings XI Punjab squad:

Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran, Sran, Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar