IPL AUCTION 2019 Strategy: Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab have again dismantled their squad before an auction, a trend associated with them over the past few auctions. KXIP have failed to make it to the knockout rounds after their trip to the finals of the 2014 IPL season.
Last season, they started off brightly winning five of their first six matches before losing steam to finish in the seventh position after being able to win just one match out of the remaining eight matches.
This season, they look to change the tide and hence under the captaincy of Ravichandran Ashwin, they are looking to rebuild their team by adding some more players to the core that they have retained before the auction.
Here are a few areas they can strengthen in the auction to mount a title challenge in IPL 2019.
#1 All-rounder
The release of Axar Patel and the trade of Marcus Stoinis to Royal Challengers Bangalore in exchange for Mandeep Singh has left Kings XI Punjab with no premier all-rounder in their ranks.
In this format of the game where an all-rounder is worth his weight in gold, Kings XI Punjab have let go of two of the most consistent all-round performers in the IPL but they can only let bygones be bygones and focus on the all-rounders who are available in the auction.
English all-rounder Sam Curran is coming off a great couple of series against India and Sri Lanka where he tormented both the Asian sides with his pace bowling and explosive hitting. In T20s this year Curran has scored 125 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 148 and captured eight wickets in 10 innings at an economy rate of 7.54.
West Indian Fabian Allen is coming off a strong CPL campaign where he displayed his explosive batting abilities in full swing, his exploits in the CPL earned him a spot in the West Indies national team. In 2018, Allen has scored 146 runs in five innings at an average of 48 and a mind-boggling strike rate of 178, he has also taken five wickets in eight matches.
New Zealander Corey Anderson has had a great season with the bat scoring 622 runs in 22 innings at a healthy average of 34.55 and an explosive strike rate of 159.07.
Mumbai lad Shivam Dubey has been turning heads this year with his performance in the domestic circuit scoring at a strike rate of 146 in 13 T20s and also capturing 10 wickets at the same time.