Pune:Â Kings XI Punjab will look for a positive start when it locks horns with former champion Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Pune on Friday.
The Royals team, which has three 2015 World Cup winners in Shane Watson, Steve Smith and James Faulkner, will look to Chris Morris, its costliest buy at Rs. 1.4 crore, for a positive start. Morris was bought for his all-round skills and will be expected to partner Faulkner in that department.
With the ball, Morris produced a record performance for Lions in the Ram Slam T20 last year.
But a big challenge for Royals will be adapting to a new home after its actual home ground of Jaipur was taken off the roster owing to a dispute in the Rajasthan Cricket Association.
With captain Watson and Stuart Binny playing all-round roles as well, chief coach Paddy Upton feels Morris’s inclusion gives Royals a lot of options.
The two leg-spinners — Dinesh Salunkhe and Pardeep Sahu — can also play decisive roles in this format.
Smith, meanwhile, comes into the IPL on the back of an awe-inspiring performance in the past year. He has scored 2,096 runs in 31 international matches across all formats at a brilliant average of 69.86, which includes eight hundreds.
During this period, he captained Australia’s Test side and was the team’s leading run scorer (402 at an average of 67, including an unbeaten fifty in the final) in a winning World Cup campaign.
Kings XI Punjab captain George Bailey, who did not get to spend much time in the middle last season, aggregated 257 runs at a strike rate of 135.26.
But it was Glenn Maxwell — 552 runs at a strike rate of 187.75 — who was the team’s trump card in the previous IPL.
In the company of South African dasher David Miller and the Indian trio of Virender Sehwag, Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha, Maxwell could well be the key to the team’s fortunes this season as well. That intimidating batting order has been further beefed up by the addition of Murali Vijay. The bowling department also looks solid with Australian tearaway Mitchell Johnson leading the pacers pack.
“Last year was a good season for us and we would want to carry on the winning spree this season as well,†coach Sanjay Bangar said on the sidelines of KXIP’s pre-season camp here.
“We have a well-balanced team and the entire coaching staff is positive about the team’s performance.
“As a part of this camp, we will focus towards working on the strengths and improvement areas of the players and look forward to a great tournament.â€