If anything has been constant with Kings XI Punjab in the IPL over the years, that has to be Change. The franchise has had a total of 11 captains in the 12 editions of the tournament so far and, with the transfer of Ravichandran Ashwin to the Delhi Capitals, they look all set to name a brand new captain for the 2020 edition of the tournament as well.
They are one of the franchises who are yet to win an IPL title and the reason behind it could be largely attributed to the questionable tactics of the team management. The constant changing and chopping haven’t allowed any time for the squad to settle down ever. They have made a lot of changes ahead of the auction this season too.
Left-arm spinner Jagadeesan Suchith is the one who has been traded in from the Delhi Capitals for R Ashwin. And they have got Krishnappa Gowtham from Mumbai Indians in return for Ankit Rajpoot as well. They have also released seven players, three of whom played regularly for them last season, and that has freed up a large portion of their budget to go all guns out in the auction once again.
List of retained and released players by KXIP ahead of IPL 2020 Auction
Squad: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Sarfaraz Khan, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, K Gowtham (traded in), Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Arshdeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, M Ashwin, J Suchith (traded in), Harpreet Brar, Darshan Nalkande
Released: David Miller, Andrew Tye, Sam Curran, Moises Henriques, Prabhsimran Singh, Agnivesh Ayachi and Varun Chakravarthy
Here we take a deep dive into how the KXIP should approach the auctions, analyzing possible strategies and identifying potential candidates they could look out for:
Available Slots: 9 (four overseas)
Purse remaining: Rs 42.70 cr
Voids to Fill
Experienced middle-order batsmen and finisher
The top-order is quite sorted for Kings XI Punjab as they have retained all of KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Sarfaraz Khan, Karun Nair, Nicholas Pooran and Mandeep Singh. All of them can bat in the top four but with the release of David Miller and Moises Henriques, they would be looking for someone who can bat in the middle order between No.5 and 6 and finish matches off for them regularly. Yes, players like Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh and Nicholas Pooran are capable of doing that but they lack the much-needed experience.
Possible Targets: Shimron Hetmyer, Glenn Maxwell, Eoin Morgan, Colin de Grandhomme, Sam Billings, Mitchell Marsh
A Death-Overs Specialist
KXIP have released Andrew Tye and thus, they would be looking for an overseas death bowling specialist. Tye is a specialist in his own league but he looked totally out of form last season. They are in a dire need of a death overs specialist as that’s an area they struggles in largely last season.
Possible Targets: Dale Steyn, Chris Woakes, Tom Curran
A Pace-bowling All-rounder
Sam Curran was one of their main bowling options last season as well and they will be looking for a pace-bowling all-rounder just like him. In fact, he successfully finished off a couple of matches for them last season, both with bat and ball. Hence, they might look to rebuy him as well. But they have a huge purse this season and thus, they could end up aiming even bigger.
Possible Targets: Sam Curran, Chris Woakes, Chris Morris, Colin de Grandhomme, Pat Cummins, David Willey
Other Picks
They will look for young Indian domestic backups in both batting and bowling departments. They have released mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and, going by their fascination for spinners in the last couple of seasons, they could be targeting Karnataka’s left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore. He was the highest wicket-taker in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. In the batting department, they might go for Virat Singh, Aditya Waghmode and Rohan Kadam, all of whom have had a good domestic season so far.