IPL 2023: New captain… new coach, will he be able to change the thinking of Punjab Kings? How will the batter batter be compensated?

New Delhi. The first match of IPL 2023 will be played after 2 days. This time even before the start of the season, injured players have increased the problems of every team. Punjab Kings are also included in this. Even before the start of the league, the Kings have suffered a big setback. The leg injury of dashing batsman Johnny Bairstow has not healed. That’s why he will not play in the 16th season of IPL. The team has added Matthew Short as his replacement. At the same time, Kings’ important fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will also not play against Kolkata Knight Riders in the first match. He will join the team on April 3 after the ODI series against South Africa.

Punjab Kings have not reached the playoffs since 2014. The team finished sixth in IPL 2022. This time the team will enter the league with a new captain and coach. In such a situation, the question is whether the new jugalbandi of the coach-captain will be able to change the thinking of the team?

Dhawan will captain Punjab Kings
Shikhar Dhawan will captain Punjab Kings in IPL 2023. He will replace Mayank Agarwal. Mayank will play for Sunrisers Hyderabad this season. Shikhar was the top scorer of Punjab Kings in IPL 2022. He had scored 460 runs in 14 innings. This time the coaching staff of the team is also completely new. Trevor Bayliss has been made the head coach of the team in place of Anil Kumble. Wasim Jaffer has been given the responsibility of batting coach again. Sunil Joshi is the spin bowling coach.

Team’s depth in fast bowling
Punjab Kings landed with the second highest purse (32.2 crores) in the IPL 2023 auction and the team spent half of it to buy Sam Karen and he became the most expensive player in IPL history. Pace attack of Punjab Kings is good. The team has fast bowlers as well as T20 specialist bowlers. Rabada, Arshdeep Singh and Cam Karen strengthen the team’s fast bowlers. At the same time, Rishi Dhawan is also an option in bowling as an all-rounder. Mohali and Dharamshala are the home grounds of Punjab Kings and the wickets here have always been fast bowlers friendly.

Punjab Kings have power hitter and all-rounder
Johnny Bairstow may not play in IPL 2023. But, Kings have good power hitter batsmen. Bairstow’s replacement Matthew Short was second in terms of runs in the Big Bash League this season. He also took 11 wickets at an economy rate of 7.13. Liam Livingstone and Sri Lanka’s Bhanuka Rajapaksa also did well in the last season.

With Sikandar Raza joining the team, the power hitting of Punjab Kings has got more life. Livingstone’s strike rate in T20 is 146, Rajapaksa’s 136 and Jitesh Sharma’s strike rate is 148. Raza played an important role in making Lahore Qalandars champions in this season of Pakistan Super League.

Got handcuffed…had to go to jail, those 3 days felt like 30 years, Pakistani batter told the pain

Rohit stayed away from father for cricket, even sold milk to buy kit, childhood friend told the story of struggle

How will Bairstow be compensated?
Punjab Kings do have a backup wicketkeeper. But, who will be Shikhar Dhawan’s opening partner in Jonny Bairstow’s absence? This is a big question. Mathew is a short opener and has done well in BBL. But, he has not played in IPL. In such a situation, Bhanuka Rajapakse can also be an option in the opening.

spin bowling weakness
Apart from Rahul Chahar, the team does not have any other better spinner. The team has Harpreet Brar. But, he has not been seen bowling much in the IPL.

First read breaking news in Hindi News18 Hindi| Read today’s latest news, live news updates, most reliable Hindi news website News18 Hindi.

Tags: IPL 2023, Jonny Bairstow, Punjab Kings, Sam Curran, shikhar dhawan