IPL 2016 Kings XI Punjab profile: Team overview, key player, fixtures, history and prediction

Overview

The Kings XI outfit have had contrasting campaigns over the past two seasons. In 2014 they were billed the most exciting team to watch, scoring nine totals of 170 and more, bulldozing past their hapless opponents into the play-offs and beyond. The following year, was a nightmare for the Punjab outfit, as they were the first team to be knocked out of the tournament.

The 2016 season has seen Preity Zinta's side go for a complete overhaul, the most significant step was discarding George Bailey and appointing South Africa's David Miller as captain. With Virender Sehwag retiring, the onus will now rest with Glen Maxwell, Shaun Marsh and the skipper himself to power the team to the play-offs.

The bowling attack will be led by Mitchell Johnson, although how effective he will be this term, is debatable. Nonetheless, two well-known faces in the side are Axar Patel and Mohit Sharma – apart from a few others – who could make a difference, but overall their bowling attack looks weak on paper.

If overseas players fail to impress, expect Kings XI Punjab to struggle in this campaign as well.

Coach: Sanjay Bangar

Key player

Glenn Maxwell: The talented Australian started his career with Kings XI in style in 2014, scoring 552 runs in 16 games at a strike rate of 187.75. He was the third highest run-getter that year, but in the last season he struggled to get going, scoring on 143 runs in 11 games. Yet, its a known fact that when Maxwell is from, he can take on any bowler in the world.

Fixtures

Date Day Time Matches Venue

IPL History: Kings XI Punjab are yet to win the IPL title. Their best finish came in 2014 when they entered the finals and finished runners-up.

Squad: David Miller (C), Kyle Abbott, Anureet Singh , Arman Jaffer, Farhaan Behardien, KC Cariappa, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkreet Singh Mann, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Nikhil Naik, Axar Patel, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Pardeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Shardul Thakur, Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra.

Prediction: Kings XI Punjab are completely reliant on their overseas players, if Miller, Maxwell, Shaun Marsh and Johnson fail to perform, it will be very tough for them to qualify for the play-off stages.

It seems like they would fail to qualify for the knock-out stages.