Kings XI Punjab is one of the three teams, who are yet to bag a single IPL trophy in their kitty. Every season, they start with a lot of promise but somehow, they will find themselves on the wrong side of things. Much like every year, they once again made a lot of changes to the squad. Meanwhile, let’s have a look at the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) Analysis of Kings XI Punjab for Indian Premier League 2019.
IPL 2019: Kings XI Punjab – SWOT Analysis
Strength – Solid Batting Lineup
It seems like Kings XI Punjab focussed more on their batting lineup for the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League. They filled their batting order with top-class players to make lineup look threatening for the bowlers.
With Chris Gayle and KL Rahul at the top, the opening section is pretty much in safe hands. The form of Mayank Agarwal and the likes of Mandeep Singh, Karun Nair and Proteas Star David Miller will make the impact on the game for Punjab.
The addition of Sam Curran will give depth to the side and also the Australian Moises Henriques is in good form. Apart from that, the spin quota and bowling department look strong enough to contain the opposition.
Weakness – Death Bowling
Perhaps, Kings XI Punjab would once again suffer due to the lack of their death bowler. Apart from Andrew Tye, there is no reliable option to bowl at the death. Mohammed Shami is more a new-ball bowler and bowls decent in the middle overs.
Adding to that, he never had a good IPL record. Ankit Rajpoot is pretty inexperienced while Sam Curran will take considerable time to adjust in Indian conditions. Maybe, once again, Ravichandran Ashwin would see himself bowling the final over.
Opportunities – KL Rahul, Andrew Tye & Sam Curran would like to prove a point
The upcoming edition would be a good opportunity for the whole team itself. They never won a tournament and this would be there another opportunity to win the trophy with a decent squad in the kitty.
Apart from that, the players like KL Rahul, Mandeep Singh would like to prove a point for many, who are questioning their talent. Mandeep Singh needs to perform well, as he came into the side replacing Marcus Stoinis.
This would also be the glorious chance for Andrew Tye, Sam Curran and Ankit Rajpoot to press their cases for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2019. Ankit Rajpoot always delivered the goods but never got the required limelight. Meanwhile, the young Prabhsimran Singh would be licking his lips to taste IPL.
Threats – Bowling in the second half of the tournament
The major threat for Kings XI Punjab would be there bowling, especially, in the second half of the tournament. If Australian and England call back Andrew Tye and Sam Curran, Kings XI Punjab would be in a soup.
With no potential death bowler, they will rely more on Mohammed Shami, who already got the orders to be smart enough on workload management. Meanwhile, there is also a chance that Shami would miss out a few games due to legal issues.
On the other hand, the form of Ravichandran Ashwin would also be a cause of concern. And also, the performance of Mayank, Karun Nair and David Miller has never been consistent enough.
Also, here is Kings XI Punjab complete squad:
KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Karun Nair, David Miller, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sam Curran, Mohammad Shami, Prabhsimran Singh, Nicolas Pooran, Moises Henriques, Hardus Viljoen, Darshan Nalkande, Sarfaraz Naushad Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Agnivesh Ayachi, Harpreet Brar, Murugan Ashwin