Punjab Team’s Performance in TATA IPL 2024
7
Matches
2
Won
5
Lost
28.57
Win %
Expected Playing XI
Shikhar Dhawan ©, Jonny Bairstow, Prabhsimran Singh, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar
Players to watch out for
Sam Curran – The English all-rounder was bought at an eye popping price of 18 crores at the auction. While the number does seem big, the all-rounder showed, though in patches, why the team broke the bank for him. If Punjab are to do well in TATA IPL 2024, a lot will depend on Sam Curran’s form with both bat and ball.
Shikhar Dhawan – The left-hander has developed a reputation for his consistency in the league and did decently well in 2023 as well with the bat, scoring almost 400 runs at an average of more than 40. Captaincy, though, doesn’t always look like Dhawan’s cup of tea. The good news though is that it doesn’t seem to affect Dhawan the batter much. At the fag end of his career, Dhawan would need to produce another big season with the bat if he has to lead Punjab to their maiden title.
Jitesh Sharma – The wicket-keeper batter was backed by the management in 2022 and since then has proved to be a vital part of the team. He not only has grown to become the team’s vice-captain but also made his way into the Team India setup. Although he isn’t built like an ox but he can still hit it big and that’s why he will be the key to the team’s performance in the middle and death overs in TATA IPL 2024.
Punjab Team Schedule for TATA IPL 2024
Squad Analysis of Punjab
Punjab has an impressive looking squad with multiple all-rounders in the form of Curran, Livingstone and Raza. Add to that bowlers of Arshdeep Singh and Kagiso Rabada’s calibre and there doesn’t seem to be any reason for the team to once again finish outside of top four. However, it’s important for a lot of moving pieces to come together for a team in the league to make it to the playoffs. In the case of Punjab, those pieces don’t seem to move together.
Strengths – The middle order of the team packs a punch with big-hitters like Livingstone, Curran and Jitesh. A middle-order of this kind will also allow Shikhar Dhawan to play his natural game and try to build big scores, as he normally does.
Weaknesses – Shikhar Dhawan’s captaincy has often attracted criticism and not always it is for wrong reasons. While his batting remains equally effective even with the captain’s responsibility, he does seem to run out of ideas quite often on the field. Jonny Bairstow’s return makes things a little messy for the team as it puts an in-form Raza out of the XI while pushing last year’s star performer Prabhsimran Singh down the order.
Prabhsimran Singh had a coming of age season last year but with Bairstow back in the side, the youngster will get a demotion in the batting order. If he can adjust to the new batting position, he can be an important part of the top order.
Punjab Team in TATA IPL 2024
Punjab’s story in the Indian T20 League has somewhat mirrored the story of their other neighbors from the North – Delhi. The team began the league in 2008 as one of the strongest units and even enjoyed a smooth run to the semi-finals before failing to progress to the finals. It took them another six years to put up a performance similar to the one they had in the inaugural edition of the tournament. In 2014, after years and years of disappointing performances, they made it to the finals, only to be upstaged by Kolkata in a high scoring chase. That, almost a decade ago, however was their last hurrah. Since then they have gone 9 seasons without making it to the top four, which only goes on to show how consistently disappointing the franchise has been to its fans despite trying out multiple captains over the years.
In 2022, Punjab began with retaining pacer Arshdeep Singh and opening batter Mayank Agarwal and went on to build a very strong side in the mega auctions by picking English power-hitters like Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone along with South African pacer Kagiso Rabada. They even got Shikhar Dhawan who had six back to back seasons where he had managed to score more than 450 runs. Even then, very little changed for the team under the captaincy of Mayank Agarwal as they finished 6th out of the 10 teams. They have been sixth for four consecutive seasons, although the three years before 2022, they finished 6th out of the 8 teams. Post the 2022 disappointment, the management got rid of Agarwal as well as head coach Anil Kumble and announced Shikhar Dhawan as the skipper and brought Trevor Bayliss on board. That didn’t change anything as the team still finished in the bottom half of the table despite starting strongly. Former Punjab coach Sanjay Bangar was roped in as the Head of Cricket
The good news for the team ahead of TATA IPL 2024 is the return of Jonny Bairstow who missed out last year. However, Bairstow’s form in the recently concluded Test series wasn’t much to talk about.
Punjab’s stats in Indian T20 League
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- Punjab skipper Shikhar Dhawan sits on the second place in the list of highest run scorers across the history of the Indian T20 League.
- Dhawan is also one of the rare players who has appeared in all the editions of the Indian T20 League.
- KG Rabada has the best strike-rate among bowlers with more than 100 wickets in the league.
- Rabada also became the fastest bowler to 100 wickets in the league in 2023.
- Although no longer a player of the current squad, Punjab’s wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha was the first one to score a century in the final of Indian T20 League when he achieved the feat in 2014.
