IPL 2018: How each franchise might line up

#4 Kings XI Punjab

A strong batting lineup that can chase down any score

List of players bought by the KXIP at the IPL 2018 auction –

Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Rana, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mujeeb Zadran, Yuvraj Singh, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshus, Pradeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Chris Gayle, Manzoor Dar

Punjab have had a lot of ups and downs throughout the IPL. They have landed on top as well as the bottom of the table a few times respectively. Bowling, though, has always been an issue for KXIP which they tried to resolve in this year's auction.

They seem to have the most destructive batting lineup with many big names. R Ashwin will lead the new KXIP and here is their probable 11:

M Agarwal; C Gayle; KL Rahul(wk); K Nair; Yuvraj Singh; D Miller; M Stoinis; R Ashwin(c); Axar Patel; A Tye; M Sharma

As you can see from the names above, Punjab have a very strong batting lineup that can take down any bowling lineup on their day and can chase any target. The only problem that they might face is the lack of a quality pacer.

They have some good medium pacers like Tye, Stoinis and Mohit Sharma who can trouble the batsman with their variations. However, they lack a pacer like Rabada, Starc or Johnson who can provide them with early wickets with the new ball.

Their bowling will depend a lot on Ashwin and Axar as they will have to stop other teams in the middle overs.