IPL 2019: Kings XI Punjab's strongest playing XI

All-rounders: Sam Curran and Ravichandran Ashwin (C)

Ravi Ashwin

Sam Curran, the fiery bowling all-rounder from England, was envisioned to attract a lot of bidders at the 2019 IPL Auction. The story was no different as a lot of franchises went for Curran with Punjab finally acquiring his services for INR 7.2 Crore. Sam Curran is expected to replace Marcus Stoinis in KXIP's playing XI. Having traded Stoinis, Punjab would want an able all-rounder of Curran's stature in their playing XI.

Ravichandran Ashwin led the side very well in the earlier stage of IPL 2018. However, he lost his way in the latter half as Punjab failed to qualify for the playoffs. Captaincy pressure took a toll on his performance as well. Having featured in 14 IPL games, Ashwin managed to pick only ten wickets at an average of 41.00 and a strike-rate of 30.40. Besides, he also failed with the bat as he notched-up only 102 runs in the league. Thus, come the IPL 2019, Ashwin will look to improve his game, especially his bowling.