A new look Kings XI Punjab under Ravichandran Ashwin will
take on Delhi Daredevils in their opening encounter of IPL-2018 on Sunday, as
both sides look to begin the T20 competition on a winning note.
This term, KXIP look a balanced side with Ashwin set for his
maiden stint as leader of an IPL team. It has players of the calibre of Yuvraj
Singh, Chris Gayle, David Miller, K L Rahul and Aaron Finch not to verbalize of
the likes of Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Axar Patel and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman.
Barring a few who have been retained, most of the domestic
and several foreign players have joined the team this season.
Punjab mentor Virender Sehwag rated the new-look team as the
best of all seasons.
"We comprise the best side, if I compare last ten
years," Sehwag said, adding that the team is a balanced one with a right
mix of Indian and foreign players.
Punjab's captain in the previous season, Glenn Maxwell will
now turn up for the opposition side and so will Rahul Tewatia and Gurkeerat
Mann.
Both Sehwag and head coach Brad Hodge heap praise on Ashwin,
even though captaining an IPL side may be the off-spinner's maiden role, and
feel that a "smart cricketer" like him will inspire the team.
K L Rahul, who was bought for Rs 11 crore by KXIP, is
focused to help the team lift its maiden title.
KXIP's best come to an end in the decade-old tournament has
been to reach the finals in 2014.
Inconsistency in their presentation has been a cause of
concern for the Punjab outfit and the team will have to overcome this aspect if
they want to finish on top this time.
present can be a fair amount of attention on players like
17-year-old Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and 24-year-old all-rounder
from Kashmir, Manzoor Dar, the second cricketer after Parveez Rasool from the
Kashmir Valley to make it to the IPL.
Delhi Daredevils share similarity with Punjab team, as they
too have struggle in the last few seasons.
DD's head coach Ricky Ponting has exuded optimism and said
that he doesn't care about his team's dismal documentation over 10 editions of
IPL as he believe that the "fresh group" of players have it in them
to win a maiden title this season.
Delhi reached semi-finals twice in their first three
seasons.
The Gautam Gambhir-led side has an ideal mix of youth and
experience. Gambhir has helped his previous outfit Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
to clinch titles on two occasions.
Delhi have retained wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant and
opener Shreyas Iyer.
All-rounders Chris Morris and Glenn Maxwell will lend depth
to Delhi's bowling and batting department. With the likes of Gambhir, Colin
Munro, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy and Prithvi Shaw, the side has the ability to go
for big totals.
Teams:
Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir (captain), Shreyas Iyer,
Sandeep Lamichhane, Manjot Kalra, Glenn Maxwell, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami,
Chris Morris, Colin Munro, Shahbaz Nadeem, Naman Ojha, Rishabh Pant, Harshal
Patel, Jason Roy, Vijay Shankar, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Jayant Yadav,
Abhishek Sharma, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult, Daniel Christian, Sayan Ghosh,
Gurkeerat Singh Mann.
Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), Yuvraj
Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mayank Dagar, Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle, Manzoor Dar,
David Miller, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, Axar Patel, Lokesh Rahul, Marcus
Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, Andrew Tye, Ben Dwarshuis, Ankit Rajpoot, Pardeep Sahu,
Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, Akshdeep Nath.
