Kings XI Punjab team and schedule in IPL 2016: KXIP squad and match details for IPL 9

Kings XI Punjab enter the tournament as minnows under young captain David Miller's leadership

Kings XI Punjab will be going into the tournament with an “Underdog” tag under David Miller’s captaincy. The South African batsman is new to Captain’s role and will be tested in this IPL. KXIP finished at the bottom of the standings last season. They will be looking to bounce back from their poor performance last year. They have their first game against newbie Gujarat Lions headed by Suresh Raina. Both the teams are evenly matched and might get them in the groove for the last season, Preity Zinta will be waiting for a miracle turnaround this year. They spent a few extra bucks for Mohit Sharma (6.5 crores) and Kyle Abbott (2.1 crores). IPL 2016 Schedule: Indian Premier League 9 Full Time Table with Venue & Ground details

They have a good batting order which heavily relies on opener Shaun Marsh, David Miller and Murali Vijay. Shaun Marsh was the star batsman for Kings XI Punjab in their first season. He hasn’t quite lived up to his potential lately. Glenn Maxwell became as sensation as soon as he stepped into KXIP side from Mumbai Indians but his form is a concern for the team. David Miller was the only batsman who stepped up to score and won a few matches for them. Murali Vijay’s performance will be the one to watch out for, he has a good record in IPL and would be desperate to showcase his talent. Armaan Jaffer, the nephew of Wasim Jaffer was in the news after he was sold to KXIP at 10 lakhs. Other than that they got Australian player Marcus Stoinis to everyone’s surprise.

They will need Wriddhiman Saha’s expertise behind the wicket and also in the middle order along with Manan Vohra to accelerate in middle overs. Kings XI Punjab spend approximately 10.5 crore in this IPL auction which is a lot less than many. Roping KC Cariappa was a good move from them. Bowling department will be headed by former Australian speedster Mitchell Johnson and Mohit Sharma. Including Kyle Abbott might be a pain-staking task for them keeping in mind the rule of 4 overseas players in the side. Their death bowling is an area of concern as they can only pick David Miller, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh in the team. They have to bench one among these to give Kyle Abbott to pay off his debts. Excluding any of them from the side will have consequences and will weaken them.

Kings XI Punjab Squad: 

David Miller (c), Kyle Abbott, Anureet Singh, Armaan Jaffer, Farhaan Behardien, KC Cariappa, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Nikhil Naik, Axar Patel, Wriddhiman Saha, Pradeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Shardul Thakur, Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra

IPL 2016 Schedule: Indian Premier League 9 Full Time Table with Venue & Ground details

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