IPL 2020: A complete SWOT Analysis of all eight teams

Kings XI Punjab

Squad- KL Rahul(c), Mayank Agarwal, Arshdeep Singh, Murugan Ashwin, Sheldon Cottrell, Chris Gayle, Krishnappa Gowtham, Harpreet Brar, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, Darshan Nalkande, Jimmy Neesham, Nicholas Pooran, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Simran Singh, Jagdeesha Suchith, Tajinder Singh, Hardus Viljoen

 Strengths

• New Leadership Group- While this may not be looked upon as a strength for other teams, it surely is for Punjab. KXIP is a team which has struggled to have a solid leadership group for quite some time now. When Ravichandran Ashwin took over in 2018, it seemed Punjab had finally settled on a man who would be their leader for a long time, but he was shockingly traded to the Delhi Capitals for the upcoming season. KL Rahul is the man who is going to lead them now and while he may not be too experienced in this role, he is coming off a successful limited overs season for India and is sure to be brimming with confidence. Rahul, with age on his side and having been a brilliant player for Punjab over the last couple of seasons, seems to be the right man for the job. Add to that the fact that he has someone like Maxwell, who has led his BBL side to two consecutive finals, and a certain Anil Kumble, a very strong and highly respected individual as his head coach, the new leadership group, free of the burden of past failures, could do wonders for Punjab.

• Availability of options in the Squad- Punjab, after good auction strategy have managed to put together a balanced squad. They are one team which has the luxury of having a number of players available for most of the spots. They have a bunch of good Indian batsmen like Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair who can be slotted into the middle-order. They possess good finishers in Glenn Maxwell and Krishnappa Gowtham who was particularly destructive in the 2018 season. They have Jimmy Neesham and Deepak Hooda to act as backups. Even in the bowling line up they have the quality and tenacity of Chris Jordan and Hardus Viljoen to act as backup for Sheldon Cottrell. Having a number of options will provide flexibility to Punjab in playing their best possible eleven.

Weakness

• Underwhelming Bowling Line up- While Punjab’s bowling line up is not mediocre, they lack an X-factor and a bowling spearhead, which Rahul can fall back upon in tough times. Their pace attack in the playing 11 will primarily consist of Mohammed Shami, Sheldon Cottrell and a young Indian pacer, most likely Ishan Porel. While Shami is a great bowler, last season was the only time he played a full -fledged IPL season and while he picked 19 wickets, he has a tendency to go for runs. It will be Cottrell’s first IPL and although he does offer variety of a left armer, his gentle pace might become fodder for hard hitting batsmen. They have backups in Jordan and Viljoen too but it will be interesting to see if they would drop Cottrell after picking him at a hefty price of 8.5 cr. In the spin department while they have Mujeeb Ur Rahman, due to the team dynamics he may not be able to play all games as was the case last season. Apart from him, Krishnappa Gowtham and Murugan Ashwin don’t inspire much confidence and Ravi Bishnoi, another U19 sensation is too inexperienced to expect a lot from. It’s a decent unit, but could prove to be a major weakness against strong batting lineups.

Opportunity

• While Mumbai had lost all their 5 games, Punjab is a team which had done exceedingly well in UAE in 2014 having won all their 5. With Maxwell back, who was the chief destructor back in 2014, UAE could act as a lucky charm for them.

Threat

• Punjab, in the last couple of seasons have started off extremely strongly but wavered off in the last stages of the tournament to not make it to the playoffs both times. They will be aware of this tendency, and would be hoping the trend doesn’t repeat this time around as well.

Potential Surprises– Nicholas Pooran, Ravi Bishnoi