Punjab Kings (PBKS) is a franchise based in Mohali, Punjab, playing the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was established in the year 2008 and was known as Kings XI Punjab. The franchise is owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta and Karan Paul. The team plays its home matches at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Since 1010, they have been playing their home matches in Dharamshala or Indore. The team appeared in the finale of IPL 2014 and apart from that the team could only qualify for the playoffs just one more time. The name was changed to Punjab Kings in February 2021.
History
The team that represented Punjab was initially known as Kings XI Punjab and later its name got changed in Punjab Kings, The team representing Punjab was bought by the Dabur group’s Mohit Burman (46%), the Wadia group’s Ness Wadia (23%), Preity Zinta (23%), and Saptarshi Dey of the Dey & Dey Group (minor stake). The group paid a total of $76 million to acquire the franchise.
The franchise’s catchment areas were Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. This is evident in the logo’s letter sequence “K J H P H”.
Punjab Kings’ Full Squad
Mayank Agarwal (c), Arshdeep Singh, Shikhar Dhawan, Kagiso Rabada, Jonny Bairstow, Rahul Chahar, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Prabhsimran Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Porel, Liam Livingstone, Odean Smith, Sandeep Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Prerak Mankad, Vaibhav Arora, Writtick Chatterjee, Baltej Dhanda, Ansh Patel, Nathan Ellis, Atharva Taide, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Benny Howell.
Strength
Punjab has strong openers, with Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow. The team’s Skipper Mayank Agarwal is at No.3 making the top order of the team very strong. Dhawan and Bairstow have proved their capabilities in the previous IPL seasons. Punjab Kings has one of the strongest opening pairs in the league. The top 3 batters of Punjab Kings is the biggest strength that this franchise has.
Weakness
Punjab doesn’t really have a reliable finisher. the team has lost several matches just because of them not having a good finisher. If a player fills that gap, they will have a strong chance to qualify for the playoffs.
Though the franchise has retained Arshdeep and bought Rabada and Chahar. they don’t have enough options. If Chahar fails to deliver, the Kings will be in a mess. Death bowling has always been the concern of PBKS and probably in this season too, the team will have trouble in this department.
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