IPL 2020: Ranking the bowling attacks of all the teams
T20 might be considered a batsman's game but the role of bowlers cannot be undermined. In fact, contrary to what it was predicted at the inception of T20 cricket, the importance of good bowlers has increased. T20 teams across the world have thrived to form strong bowling-attacks.
IPL teams with strong and reliable bowling-attacks have done extremely well over time. Be it Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings, the successful IPL sides have always had strong bowling units.
At this year's auction, Pat Cummins was the most expensive player to be sold, which emphasises how serious teams are about their bowling line-up. A lot of attention has been paid to strengthening the bowling attacks this auction, and the team that achieved this best will have the upper hand going into the tournament.
On that note, we decided to rank the bowling attacks of the 8 IPL teams:
#8 Kings XI Punjab
Spinners: Murugan Ashwin, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, J. Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi, Tajinder Dhillon, K Gowtham
Fast bowlers/Medium pacers: Mohammed Shami, Hardus Viljoen, Arshdeep Singh, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel, Chris Jordan, James Neesham, Darshan Nalkande
Also see – India vs Australia schedule
After a below-par performance last season, Kings XI Punjab made big changes in their squad for IPL 2020. They took a huge decision of letting go of their captain and first-choice spinner in Ravichandran Ashwin. They did rope in K Gowtham and J Suchith to provide them with more options but it will be interesting to see if they can perform in pressure situations.
They released some big names in the pace department as well and thus needed reinforcements. Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Jordan and Ishan Porel were the pacers bought at the auction. While Cottrell and Porel are untested at the IPL, Jordan does not have a strong IPL record. They will want Mohammad Shami to do a repeat of his performance from last year. But then, do they have an attack that can turn a match around? Only time will tell.