Having found guilty of chopping and changing far too many times, Punjab Kings will be relying on World Cup winning coach Trevor Bayliss and new skipper Shikhar Dhawan to shed their perennial underachievers tag this IPL season. The reputed Australian coach knows a thing or two about winning, having guided England to the 2019 ODI World Cup and KKR to titles in 2012 and 2014. Punjab Kings owners have roped him in with the sole objective of lifting the elusive IPL trophy.
Inconsistency has hurt Punjab badly over the years and Bayliss will have to find a way to optimise the performance of a squad that looks formidable on paper. Punjab finished sixth in the past four seasons and reached their only final in 2014.
Punjab went into the 2023 mini auction with the maximum purse and spent most of their money on England all-rounder Sam Curran, making him the costliest buy in IPL history at Rs 18.50 crore.
The other players they bought were Sikandar Raza (Rs 50 lakh), Harpreet Bhatia (Rs 40 lakh), Vidwath Kaverappa (Rs 20 lakh), Mohit Rathee (Rs 20 lakh) and Shivam Singh (Rs 20 lakh).
Matthew Short has been drafted into the squad as a replacement player for the injured Jonny Bairstow.
Strengths
Punjab have plenty of firepower in the batting unit despite the absence of Bairstow. The presence of Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Curran, Short, who impressed in the latest Big Bash edition, make them a force to be reckoned with.
Curran, player of the 2022 T20 World Cup, is expected to play every game and contribute in both the departments.
The core group remains the same as last year and that gives them much needed balance in the bowling department. Curran, Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh can do the job both
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