Punjab Kings

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year, and the Punjab Kings (PBKS) are looking to make a name for themselves in the upcoming 2023 season.

PBKS, formerly known as Kings XI Punjab, is a franchise cricket team co-owned by Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Preity Zinta, and Karan Paul. The team is based in Mohali, Punjab, and plays its home games at the PCA Stadium.

While PBKS has only made two playoff appearances in 13 seasons, they are determined to turn things around in 2023. In the recent mini-auction, PBKS made history by acquiring Sam Curran for a whopping Rs 18.50 crores, the highest-ever bid for a player in IPL history.

In this article, we will provide a comprehensive preview of the Punjab Kings squad for the 2023 IPL season.

We will analyze the team’s strengths and weaknesses, predict the starting eleven for the upcoming season, and provide insights into the team’s chances of winning the tournament. Additionally, we will highlight the top betting sites to wager on PBKS matches and provide our match predictions.

So, if you’re a fan of the Punjab Kings or just an avid cricket enthusiast, keep reading to learn all about the PBKS players, owners, squad, and their chances of winning IPL 2023.

PBKS Betting Odds to Win IPL 2023

Punjab Kings have odds of 20.00 to win the 2023 IPL trophy according to the best betting sites in India. The IPL odds of 20.00 makes them one of the least favorites to win the trophy.

Overall, PBKS can be a fun team to watch with impact players and respective roles. However, the team may not be settled throughout the season, and their weakened spin unit and over-reliance on Rabada, Chahar, and Arshdeep may become problematic.

PBKS may finish in the bottom half of the table in IPL 2023 and miss out on the playoffs. The team’s approach to batting last season was exciting, but they lacked quality and depth in their batting to pull it off regularly.

They need to change their approach or improve their personnel to succeed in IPL 2023.

PBKS Match Betting Sites

Punjab Kings Squad IN IPL 2023

Punjab Kings players 2023:Shikhar Dhawan (C), Shahrukh Khan, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Baltej Singh, Nathan Ellis, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Brar, Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh.

The Punjab Kings had a tough time in the mini-auctions as there were few players available and many teams looking to strengthen their squads, driving up the prices of players.

While the Kings were able to make Sam Curran their record signing, they failed to address other issues such as the lack of experienced Indian batsmen to replace Mayank Agarwal, who left the franchise after one season.

Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza was a good addition to the team, but he may struggle to find a place in the squad if all the first-choice overseas players are fit. The Kings also bought relatively unknown players, but the signing of Vidwath Kaverappa, a right-arm fast bowler, generated some excitement.

The Kings have faced difficulties with the fitness of some of their English stars, including Jonny Bairstow, who broke his leg at the end of the English summer.

The loss of Mayank Agarwal is not expected to have a significant impact on the team, as it would allow Bairstow to return to his favored role as an opening batsman alongside experienced captain Shikhar Dhawan. However, with Bairstow’s injury, the Kings may have to shift Liam Livingstone up to open or bring in Harpreet

Bhatia who has experience at the top of the order in domestic cricket but has not played a game in the IPL. Alternatively, the Kings could put in Sam Curran, who has played as a pinch hitter in the past.

It is surprising that the Kings did not spend their remaining money to fill their last overseas spot with a genuine top-order batsman as cover for Bairstow.

There are several options that would have added depth and none of them would have cost in excess of 2 crore. The Kings must answer the key question of where Livingstone, who is also trying to overcome an injury, will bat.

Ideally, they would want him to bat at 3 or 4, but there may be the temptation to drop him a bit lower to add some quality to what is otherwise a fairly average bunch of cricketers.

The Kings have some promising young players in their squad, including Jitesh Sharma, who showed some impressive cameos last year, and Prabhsimran Singh, who has been scoring runs for fun on the domestic circuit.

The team has also strengthened its all-round options with the addition of Sam Curran, whose bowling at the death has improved dramatically over the last couple of years.

Rishi Dhawan and Harpreet Brar are both “bits and pieces” cricketers who can occupy spots at 7 and 8 and bowl a few overs. The pressure on Curran to deliver with the bat will be significant, as he may find himself batting as high as number 6 in the Kings’ set-up.

Punjab Kings Top Runscorer Betting Tip

You could make a case for just about anyone in that top six but the stand-out candidate is Shikhar Dhawan.

The IPL winner may change from season to season but one of the constants is the runs of Dhawan. He has scored over 470 runs for each of the past six seasons. Dhawan has a remarkable record of 44 fifties and two centuries across his 192-match IPL career.

Dhawan is the second-highest runscorer in the IPL after only Virat Kohli, so outscoring his Punjab teammates should be perfectly achievable for him.

Recommended Tip: Back Shikhar Dhawan to be Punjab Kings’ top batsman

Punjab Kings Top Bowler Betting Tip

By his standards, Kagiso Rabada had a quiet season in 2021 and that was one of the reasons why Delhi didn’t go quite as well as many may have thought. He did take 15 wickets in 15 games but considering the previous season, you can see how he wasn’t quite at his best.

South African pacer Kagiso Rabada is a genuine wicket-taker. He has a strike rate of 15 which is brilliant.

Rahul Chahar is a threat because he’s very consistent too but Rabada is the one to go with.

Recommended Betting Tip: Kagiso Rabada to be Punjab Kings’ top wicket-taker

Looking Back: PBKS Performance in IPL 2022

Punjab Kings’ performance in their debut season in IPL 2022 was a mixed bag. Despite assembling a strong team on paper, PBKS failed to make it to the playoffs, finishing sixth in the points table.

PBKS struggled with consistency and were the only team to have failed to win two successive matches in the season.

The team’s biggest positive was Liam Livingstone, who emerged as a feared big-hitter in the IPL. He scored 437 runs, including 4 fifties, in 14 matches at a staggering strike rate of over 180.

Livingstone was also the biggest six-hitter of the season and bowled more than 20 overs and picked up 6 wickets for PBKS.

The performance of the local stars, Arshdeep Singh and Jitesh Sharma, was also praiseworthy.

Arshdeep was labelled as the best death-overs specialist of the season by their leading wicket-taker and South Africa star Kagiso Rabada, while Jitesh was impressive after getting an opportunity to keep wickets and bat in the lower-middle order.

However, PBKS lacked balance and were one-dimensional in the way they approached games. Their gung-ho tactics worked well at times, but when they didn’t, the whole thing looked a little shambolic.

Captain Mayank Agarwal had a forgettable season with the bat, averaging just 16 with 1 score of 50+.

All in all, it was a forgettable season for Punjab Kings, who will be looking to regroup and come back stronger in the upcoming season.