IPL 2018: Strengths and weaknesses of Punjab

Underachiever Punjab went for a star-studded squad to roar loud at the eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The franchise has gone big on experience, especially in the batting department, making them the most dangerous side.

Let's take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the Punjabi mundas

Strengths 

Punjab has a batting line up that can thrash any bowling setup, which includes run-machines like Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch and Yuvraj Singh.

KL Rahul, Manoj Tiwary, David Miller, Karun Nair further strengthen their batting order

The franchise has a powerful middle-order - David Miller and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, 

It also posses a good pool of bowlers which include left Left-arm orthodox Axar Patel, veteran spinner R Ashwin and Australian pacer Andrew Tye

Weakness:

The absence of a proven glovesman will cost the franchise a lot.

They have just two keeping options in Aksdeep Nath and KL Rahul. 

Punjab lacks death bowlers. Apart from Tye, they have no other bowler with any experience in this T20 format.

The age of Yuvraj and Gayle has been at best inconsistent in the previous seasons.  

Here is the complete squad list 

Venue: IS Bindra Stadium

Retained:

Axar Patel (12.5 cr)

Purchased:

R Ashwin (7.6 cr), Yuvraj Singh (2 cr), Karun Nair (5.6 cr), KL Rahul (11 cr), David Miller (3 cr), Aaron Finch (6.2 cr), Marcus Stoinis (6.2 cr), Mayank Agarwal (1 cr), Ankit Rajpoot (3 cr), Manoj Tiwary (1 cr), Mohit Sharma (2.4 cr), Mujeeb Zadran (4 cr), Barinder Sran (2.2 cr), Andrew Tye (7.2 cr), Akshdeep Nath (1 cr), Ben Dwarshius (1.4 cr), Pardeep Sahu (20 L), Mayank Dagar (20 L), Chris Gayle (2 cr), Manzoor Dar (20 L)

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