IPL 2022: Punjab Kings are a special team this season because of the firepower they have, can see them winning maiden title, says Bhanuka Rajapaksa

Punjab Kings and Sri Lanka batsman Bhanuka Rajapaksa feels the Punjab franchise, which is still chasing that elusive maiden IPL title, have the arsenal this time to go all the way. The 30-year-old left-hand top-order batter also lavished praise on new Punjab Kings captain Mayank Agarwal, who he feels is calm and collected. Punjab Kings started their IPL 2022 campaign with a bang, chasing a mammoth 206-run target, set by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, in style.

Rajapaksa, who came in to bat at number 3 after Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan laid a solid foundation for his team, stitching a 71-run stand for the first wicket and scoring a match-winning 43 off 22 balls on his IPL debut. With the first-choice wicket-keeper batsman Jonny Bairstow yet to join the squad, the Sri Lankan blasted 2 fours and 4 sixes in his 22-ball 44 runs knock. Punjab Kings chased down the target with 1 over to spare.

Rajapaksa also feels the Punjab team has got the firepower to win their maiden IPL title this season. Punjab Kings had a big chance to lift their maiden trophy in 2014, but the George Bailey-led side lost to Gautam Gambhir's KKR by 3 wickets in the summit clash in Bengaluru.

Ahead of Punjab Kings' second match of IPL 2022 vs KKR, TimesofIndia.com caught up with Rajapaksa to talk about Punjab's winning start, Agarwal the captain, Agarwal-Shikhar the opening partners, the team's title chances this year, his decision to reverse his international retirement decision and more. Punjab Kings' next match is against KKR. What have you talked about in terms of continuing the winning momentum? It's a T20 game and it is quite tricky. On his day, any player can change the game. We don't want to focus on a particular player, as a team, we just want