Kings XI Punjab franchise kicked off its preparations for the coming season of IPL.
The franchise conducted day 1 of the camp in Mohali.
Head Coach, Brad Hodge, also joined the camp and oversaw the preparations for the coming season.
Bowling coach, Venkatesh Prasad also joined him.
R Ashwin, newly appointed captain of Kings XI Punjab was also in attendance during the camp and saw players warming up for the season.
Virender Sehwag, the Mentor, and Head of Cricket Operations of Kings XI Punjab will join the camp soon.
On day 1 of the camp, players like Mayank Agarwal, Barinder Sran, Mohit Sharma, Akshdeep Nath were in attendance.
Many of the key players, including Yuvraj Singh, KL Rahul, are yet to join the camp.
Kings XI Punjab retained only one player ahead of IPL auction in the form of Axar Patel.
The choice was not a surprising one as he has been one of the candidates who has performed for them.
Alos, being an all-rounder, he provides luxury to the team.
Although an amount of Rs 12.5 Crore was deducted from KXIP’s purse, the franchise had to pay Axar Rs 6.75 Crore.
It can be said that KXIP got him at a nominal price as he could have garnered a much higher amount in the auction.
The R Ashwin led side also has Chris Gayle in its ranks.
He went unsold in the first two rounds on the auction day and it was only in the final minutes of the auction when in KXIP decided to buy him in the third round.
He is expected to open the innings in first few games till the time Aaron Finch is absent.
His return will raise problems for the franchise as it has some openers in its ranks.
This could very well Mayank Agarwal sitting out, despite being the star in domestic cricket in 2017/18 season.
Kings XI Punjab plays Delhi Daredevils in their opening game in a home on April 8.