The Kings XI Punjab represents the city of Chandigarh in the Indian Premier League. It was the third least expensive team to be purchased in the 2008 team auction, bought for $76 million and owned by a consortium of entrepreneurs such as Mohit Burman who is associated with the icon Dabur brand, Karan Paul who is an integral part of the Apeejay Surendra Group, Ness Wadia, the owner of the Bombay Dyeing group and ofcourse the cute Bollywood actress, Preity Zinta due to which the team has a huge fan following.
In the player auction in early 2008, Punjab had the team which could go on to win the IPL atleast once in the first three seasons. They seemed to be interested tremendously in Australian players as they purchased fast bowler Brett Lee, batsmen Simon Katich, Luke Pomersbach and Shaun Marsh all who hail from Western Australia, as well as all-rounder James Hopes. They also managed to pick the Sri Lankan batting duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene as well as West Indies top order batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan.
Punjab decided to fill their bowling attack with Indian bowlers such as Irfan Pathan who won the man of the match in the World T20 2007 final against Pakistan, S Sreesanth who had a decent tournament as Pathan, Wilkin Mota who has a good record for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy as well as the spin duo of Ramesh Powar who is known for his weight than skills with the ball and Piyush Chawla, the capable leg-spinner. Some of the other local players included the opening pair of Karan Goel and Sunny Sohal.
But it was Yuvraj Singh, the man who hit 6 sixes in an over in the World T20 2007 and the home boy as well who was named the icon player as well as the captain of the team. Punjab followed Kolkata’s footsteps the fastest amongst all the teams in making a theme song for the team which was sung by popular Punjabi singer Daler Mehendi. So it was all set for a ‘Bhangra’ season for the team as they entered into the tournament with high hopes.
Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2008 – 4th position
As surprising as it sounds, Punjab had a disastrous start to the DLF IPL 2008. Their first match was an extremely high-scoring one against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings at home, but the team was undone by Michael Hussey’s century as that proved to be the cause of their 33-run defeat. Although the team proved that they had the batting firepower to win more T20 matches in the future.
Their second match was against the supposedly much weaker Rajasthan Royals team in Jaipur but they were outplayed by 6 wickets, as incidentally another Australian Shane Watson took the game away from them with his all-round performance. However, after that they pulled off a fine run of five victories on the trot, which included home wins against the Mumbai Indians by 66 runs courtesy Kumar Sangakkara’s 56-ball 94, as well as the Delhi Daredevils whom they beat by 4 wickets with Simon Katich this time coming to the party with a 52-ball 75 and then a 9 run victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders was to follow as Irfan Pathan stole the limelight with his all-round performance.
That winning streak also involved two vital wins away from home, more precisely in the southern part of the country. Deccan Chargers were overpowered in Hyderabad by 7 wickets as the then-rookie Australian batsman Shaun Marsh showcased his immense talent with his unbeaten 84 off just 62 balls, winning him the man of the match award. While S Sreesanth, who was slapped by Harbhajan in the Mumbai Indians match, had a gala time in Bangalore as he finished with figures of 2/19 in 4 overs to help the team in pulling off a 6-wicket win against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
There was a minor setback though, with a defeat to the Chennai Super Kings by 18 runs in Chennai as Lakshmipathy Balaji picked the first ever hat-trick by any bowler in the history of the IPL. But then, Shaun Marsh went on to win three more man of the match awards in the following four games as his 51-ball 74 not out, assisted Punjab in defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in a home game. His 56-ball 81 proved to be the ultimate difference in one of the tightest matches in IPL history, as Kings XI Punjab overcame the Mumbai Indians threat at the Wankhede Stadium by 1 run even as Yuvraj Singh inflicted a brilliant diving run out on the last ball of the match. After which in Mohali, the Deccan Chargers were beaten again by 6 wickets with Marsh scoring his fifth fifty in the tournament.
In between, they had also won in Delhi fortunately as the D/L method favoured them. Mahela Jayawardene’s unbeaten 36 off just 17 balls engineered the team’s narrow. 6 run win. However, they were not as lucky at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where they were beaten by 3 wickets by the more inconsistent Kolkata Knight Riders thanks to Pakistani bowler Umar Gul’s all-round performance. Come the last match of the round robin stage in Jaipur, and it ended extremely well for the team as Rajasthan Royals were thrashed by 41 runs as Marsh this time scored a 69-ball 115, his first hundred in IPL history and the last scored in that year’s competition by any batsman.
Kings XI Punjab finished second on the points table, and made it to the semifinals of the competition having to play their nemesis, Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai. They were expectedly knocked out, thrashed by 9 wickets but this team impressed in the tournament in the spirit with which they played their cricket, irrespective of the controversies surrounding them. Their record in the first year was outstanding, 10 wins in the 15 matches that they played as Shaun Marsh went to win the Orange Cap for scoring the highest number of runs by any batsman in the IPL 2008 and made a name for himself as well a place in the Australian ODI and T20 teams soon after.
Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2009 – 5th position
Kings XI Punjab entered the 2009 edition of the tournament in South Africa with a mix of good and bad news. The good news was that they found a new official sponsor in the UAE-based Emirates Airlines, one of the most popular airlines in the world who also sponsors the Arsenal football team in the Barclays Premier League competition in England and so this had to take their brand value much higher.
On the other hand, Punjab seemed to be interested more than the Australian fans about the happenings in cricket in Australia, as the national team was scheduled to play Pakistan in the UAE in a 5 match ODI series at the same time as the IPL. This meant that the team was to miss out on the services of players such as Brett Lee and their hero of the last season, Shaun Marsh. In the auction, they picked the in-form West Indies’ pacer Jerome Taylor but unfortunately backed out of the competition due to an injury. So they had to play with fresh faces such as South Africa’s fast bowler Yusuf Abdulla and England’s Ravi Bopara.
Once again, their start to the tournament was unimpressive but more as unfortunate as the D/L method played Judas in their pursuit to win. They were hammered by 10 wickets by the Delhi Daredevils in the first match at Newlands, Cape Town and at Kingsmead, Durban they suffered a 11-run defeat in the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders as Chris Gayle’s batting performance took the game away from them.
Kings XI Punjab however managed to get back on their feet with a hat-trick of victories to follow. Kevin Pietersen’s Royal Challengers Bangalore were beaten by 7 wickets in Durban as Ravi Bopara was declared man of the match for his 59-ball 84. Followed by which, they defeated the last year’s champions Rajasthan Royals by 27 runs as Kumar Sangakkara’s 51-ball 60 was a handy effort in the low-scoring contest. Sanga went on to win another man of the match award in the next game against the Mumbai Indians as his unbeaten 44-ball 45 won the team another close contest against Mumbai, by 3 runs in what was a déjà vu of 2008.
But the Royal Challengers Bangalore hit back, to win their first ever match against Punjab. They won by 8 runs, despite suffering a hat-trick from Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh, which was the first of his two in the tournament. Yuvraj won the man of the match award for his 33-ball 50 and the hat-trick, despite the performances going in vain. Rajasthan Royals as well, won their return clash against Punjab by a thumping 78 run margin. Whereas, the team’s poor run against the Chennai Super Kings continued, as they were defeated by 12 runs in Pretoria.
However, amidst all those defeats, they did beat the Kolkata Knight Riders in the last over of the match in Port Elizabeth as Mahela Jayawardene stole the show with an unbeaten 41-ball 52 to take the team home eventually. Jayawardene also starred in the team’s 3 wicket victory against Deccan Chargers in Kimberley as he was more aggressive in his 28-ball 43.
Mumbai Indians though, managed to pull off their first win against Kings XI Punjab, by 8 wickets in what was a lackluster performance by the team in Pretoria, and this could have cost them a place in the last four of the tournament. They managed to outplay the strong Delhi Daredevils outfit by 6 wickets due to Brett Lee’s successful return to the IPL, as his figures read 3/15 in 4 overs. And they also beat the Deccan Chargers yet again by 1 run, with Yuvraj Singh picking his second hat-trick of the tournament, and thus a potential batting all-rounder emerged for India.
But a loss in the final round robin game to the Chennai Super Kings in Durban despite another outstanding bowling performance dashed their hopes of making it to the semifinals for the second consecutive time in the tournament. They finished at the 5th spot, winning 7 out of 14 matches they played, which was not that poor a performance, but it could have been better considering the promising side that it was.
Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2010 – 8th position
This season, it was Sri Lanka’s captain and wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara who was appointed to lead the time, replacing Yuvraj Singh. The other changes involved the surprise purchase of Mohammad Kaif and South Africa’s emerging fast bowler Rusty Theron, who would have formed a formidable combination alongside countryman Yusuf Abdulla. Whereas, they were scheduled to play some matches in the beautiful city of Dharmasala in Himachal Pradesh, which is said to be the home of the Tibetan religious leader The Dalai Lama and now was to be the home ground of the Kings XI Punjab.
Like in the last two seasons, the 2010 season started off in disastrous fashion. In their first match against the Delhi Daredevils in Mohali, they lost by 5 wickets as Gautam Gambhir took the game away from them with a half century. Followed by which they suffered a horrendous defeat in the hands of the last season’s finalists Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 wickets, despite scoring a total of above 200 in 20 overs on a placid Chinnaswamy wicket. In their next game, they were defeated by Deccan Chargers for the first time ever in the IPL, by 6 runs in Cuttack.
However, they finally met with some good fortune in the match against the Chennai Super Kings in Chennai. The match went into the Super Over and Rusty Theron emerged as their hero, having picked 2 wickets in that ultimate over and before that, bowled a magnificent spell of 2/17 in 4 overs which got Punjab back in the match after they posted a mere 135 on the scoreboard.
Yet, the team seemed to be completely out of order with back-to-back losses in Mohali to the Rajasthan Royals by 31 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders by 39 runs and the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets as Yuvraj Singh was woefully out of form and none of the other players seemed to respond well to Sangakkara’s captaincy. They also lost to Mumbai Indians in the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai by 4 wickets.
But they pulled off a shock 8 wicket win against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, largely due to Mahela Jayawardene’s century as he ended with an unbeaten 110 off just 59 balls, after being promoted to open the batting for Kings XI Punjab which was apparently Sangakkara’s idea. They were thrashed by the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur by 9 wickets, but achieved two wins on the trot which were again surprising. It is because the Mumbai Indians, who were the table toppers, were beaten by the Kings XI Punjab who were at the bottom, by 6 wickets in Mohali as Sangakkara finally played a captain’s knock, hitting 56 runs off 42 balls.
While they also shocked the Delhi Daredevils on a minefield of a pitch at Feroz Shah Kotla, as they won by 7 wickets due to Piyush Chawla’s spell of 2/16 in 4 overs. Their last two round robin matches were in Dharmasala against the Deccan Chargers and the Chennai Super Kings, but lost both of them as Rohit Sharma was the hero for the Deccan while MS Dhoni hit a winning six off Irfan Pathan and famously let out a huge roar as Chennai entered the semifinal of the competition.
Punjab were anyway knocked out of the tournament from before, finishing at the bottom of the table as this was easily their worst season of them all. They registered only 4 victories in the 14 matches they played in, one at home and three away from home.
Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2011 – 5th position
Kings XI Punjab, just as the Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers decided to revamp their entire roster by not retaining any single player from the last three seasons and instead putting all their players under the hammer, to be auctioned.
Apart from Piyush Chawla and Shaun Marsh who were purchased once again by the team in the auction, there was a completely new set of players representing the squad. The Australian quartet of legendary wicketkeeper batsman Adam Gilchrist, batting all-rounder David Hussey and pacers Nathan Rimmington and Ryan Harris were picked by the Kings XI Punjab. The English duo of all-rounder Dmitri Mascerenhas and premier fast bowler Stuart Broad was also bought in the auction, but since both of them could not represent the franchise that season due to injury at the last minute, the South African pair of batsman David Miller and all-rounder Ryan McLaren were bought in as replacement players.
Amongst the Indian players, Mumbai’s pair of Abhishek Nayar (for as much as $USD 900,000) and Paul Valthaty were selected alongside the likes of pacers Praveen Kumar and Shalabh Shrivastava and the spin duo of Bipul Sharma and Bhargav Bhatt to name a few.
It was Adam Gilchrist who was named captain of the team, following his successful captaincy stints with Australia and Deccan Chargers in the IPL and what the team showed is that they relied on their foreign players to guide the Indian youngsters so that they can work together and look to win the tournament. On the coaching front, Tom Moody was replaced by another Western Australian and one of the greatest finishers limited overs cricket has ever seen, Michael Bevan.
They opened their 2011 IPL campaign against the nascent Pune Warriors India team in Navi Mumbai, which was led incidentally by their former captain Yuvraj Singh. Punjab looked the weakest team in the competition due to the manner in which they folded in the match by 7 wickets. However, it was not to be as in the next match against the Chennai Super Kings in Mohali, a miracle happened. A young, unknown man from Mumbai named Paul Valthaty was asked to open the batting by Gilchrist alongside him, and he struck an unbeaten 120 off only 63 balls to ensure Punjab successfully chasing down a target of above 180.
The Valthaty show continued in the next match against the Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad, as this time it was his all-round performance which won Kings XI Punjab the game. He picked 4/29 in his 4 overs and smashed 75 off just 47 balls. But against the Rajasthan Royals in Mohali, it was the turn of Shaun Marsh to once again light up the tournament with his batting which is filled with controlled aggression. Batting at No.3, he hit a 42-ball 71 which included many boundaries off Shane Warne and the innings proved to be a decisive factor in the 48-run victory for Punjab.
However, something went drastically wrong. They lost to an out of sorts Delhi Daredevils by 29 runs in Delhi despite another fifty from Marsh in a run chase above 200. Then they were completely outplayed by a well oiled Kolkata Knight Riders outfit in Kolkata, losing by 8 wickets. Followed by which they had to play another in form team, Mumbai Indians in Mumbai and lost comprehensively by 23 runs. And due to Chris Gayle’s onslaught, they were defeated by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bangalore by 85 runs. Not to mention, that was followed by a 5-wicket defeat to the Pune Warriors India in Mohali.
But then who can underestimate a team which has Adam Gilchrist as captain? A year ago ironically, it was Gilly who led the Deccan Chargers to the last four of the competition despite losing consecutive matches on the trot at the middle stages of the tournament. Kings XI Punjab arrested their five-match losing streak with an outstanding victory against the Mumbai Indians in Dharmasala, by 79 runs as the inexperienced left arm slow bowler, Bhargav Bhatt was the pick of the bowlers easily, having ended the match with figures of 4/22 in 2.5 overs.
The wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik then played a fine knock of 69 off 33 balls to ensure that Kings XI Punjab defeat Kochi Tuskers Kerala in Indore. Followed by which, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla yet again did well with figures of 3/29 in 4 overs to help Kings XI Punjab get the better of Delhi Daredevils this time, in the home game in Dharmasala by 29 runs. It was then time to face the new table-toppers Royal Challengers Bangalore at the same venue, and this match finally saw a huge contribution from skipper Adam Gilchrist who was supported well by fellow Aussie Shaun Marsh in his 55-ball 106, which ensured that Kings XI Punjab ended with an extremely convincing 111 run victory.
But they ended the competition on a disappointing note, losing to the Deccan Chargers by 82 runs at home. Unfortunately, Kings XI Punjab failed to qualify for the playoffs; finishing 5th with 7 wins in 14 matches, largely due to its inconsistency as Kolkata Knight Riders were slightly better than them.
Kings XI Punjab and the team in 2012
This year, Kings XI Punjab came into the IPL auction with a lot of slots to be filled up, since the team’s weaknesses were exposed last time due to their inconsistency. Their problems compounded after they agreed for swapping Dinesh Karthik to the Mumbai Indians and getting Rajagopala Sathish in return. But they did manage to buy Harmeet Singh, the fast bowler from the Deccan Chargers to play for his home side this season.
They purchased Ramesh Powar, the Indian off spinner yet again for $USD 100,000 which marks his return to the team, having played for the Kochi Tuskers Kerala last season. After that, they decided to buy Australian all-rounder James Faulkner, an unknown name who hails from the province of Tasmania, for the price of $USD 190,000. Punjab’s affinity for Australia never seems to end! England’s Azhar Mahmood, who has had a successful run in English county cricket, was picked for $USD 200,000. It remains to be seen if he can replicate his consistent performances in India.
Here are some of the players who will light up the IPL for the team in 2012 –
1) Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
The captain and the face of the team. He is the one of the most respected figures in world cricket, which is rare for Australians who tend to be usually aggressive while displaying their emotions on the cricket field. Although he is emotional, but his humility and sportsmanship make him a stand out cricketer. Born on November 14, 1971 in Bellingen in New South Wales, his greatness as a wicketkeeper and batsman are unquestionable as he holds the record for scoring the most number of ODI and Test hundreds by a wicketkeeper as well as inflicting the most number of dismissals in ODI cricket by any keeper and in Tests by an Australian.
As a captain, Gilchrist is inspirational for his players and it was his sharp brains which won Deccan Chargers the IPL title in 2009 and ofcourse his batting performance in the semifinal against Delhi Daredevils was nerveless. He is also the first Australian skipper since Bill Lawry to win a Test series in India in 2004, after a period of 35 years.
Punjab can only hope that Gilly remains fit to play the entire IPL once again, as he is likely to come fresh into the tournament but without any cricket played recently as he refused to play in the Big Bash this year.
2) Shaun Marsh (Australia)
Born on July 9, 1983, Shaun Marsh is one of the finest young batsmen in world cricket today. He is the son of former Australian Test cricketer and the ex-Sri Lankan coach, Geoff Marsh. He has played domestic cricket for Western Australia and Perth Scorchers in the recent Big Bash. Marsh made his ODI debut in 2008 for Australia in the West Indies, right after a successful IPL 2008 for the Kings XI Punjab in which he hit 616 runs in 11 matches, winning the Orange Cap in the process.
He has also played T20 cricket for Australia and made his Test debut last year against Sri Lanka at Pallekele, where he scored a century to ensure a drawn game. Although currently he is out of form and not selected to play in the ODI tri-series, he is a different player when it comes to the IPL altogether and what Punjab need from him is his return to his very best as he will remain a key link in the batting order, although demoted to No.3 to accommodate Paul Valthaty at the top.
3) Paul Valthaty (India)
Paul Chandrasekhar Valthaty was born on December 7, 1983 in Mumbai and spent the bulk of his childhood in the city. He was one of the fastest emerging players in the Indian domestic circuit in the early 2000s, until he suffered a career-threatening injury in his right eye on a tour of Bangladesh which permitted him to play only one match for Mumbai for a period of nine years. It was in 2010 that he returned to play T20 cricket for Mumbai and that earned him a contract with Kings XI Punjab in 2011.
Last season, he was the 6th highest run getter in the tournament and easily the highest amongst any Kings XI Punjab batsman, scoring 463 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 136.98; with his highest being 120 not out against Chennai Super Kings in Mohali. Punjab need him to replicate his performances of last year to ensure that they enter the last four this time around, after narrowly missing out in 2011.
4) Piyush Chawla (India)
Born on December 24, 1988, Piyush Pramod Chawla has gone on to become one of India’s premier spinners. His USP is that he can bowl leg-spin, an art which seems to be dying in cricket these days as most spin bowlers bowl off-spin or off-breaks. He made a name for himself for the first time in cricket when he bowled the iconic Sachin Tendulkar with a googly in the 2005 Challenger Trophy.
He has represented India in 21 ODIS and 2 Test matches. Although he has not cemented a place in the national team as yet, he continues to be an integral part of the Kings XI Punjab and it was due to the promise that he showed in the first three years of the IPL that he was bought back into the team roster in 2011. Chawla could yet again prove to be a major difference between Punjab and the rest of the teams in this year’s tournament.
5) Praveen Kumar (India)
Praveen Kumar is definitely one of the cleverest Indian bowlers around, relying not so much on his pace as much as his variations and as a result sometimes his line and length can be nagging for many batsmen, which remind many of Glenn McGrath. Born on October 2, 1986, Praveen plays for Uttar Pradesh in first class cricket but made a name for himself on the tour of Australia in 2008 in the ODI tri-series.
In the IPL, he turned out for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first three years and performed so well for them that Kings XI Punjab purchased him for as much as $USD 800,000 last year. He is undoubtedly the bowling spearhead of the team and a very smart pick since in T20 cricket, batsmen like to hit the ball as much as possible which Praveen does not allow much to occur. Kings XI Punjab would want him to be the same bowler who is difficult to play and can choke the run scoring of the opposition, if not pick up wickets on a regular basis.
Kings XI Punjab and controversies
The team bore the brunt of facing several controversies over the years, especially since they have a Bollywood actress owning the team. She was romantically linked with the-then captain and home boy Yuvraj Singh in the IPL 2008 after looking the manner in which she celebrated with him in the ground, when she saw the team qualify for the semifinals of that tournament. At the time, her boyfriend was incidentally one of the co-owners of the team, Ness Wadia and it was said that the team management may have been in disarray over an alleged fight between them over the Yuvraj issue.
In the same season, the team was also believed to have differences with the Punjab Police over giving the team tight security for the matches played at home in Mohali. Apparently, the police demanded a huge sum of money from the Kings XI Punjab owners to provide them with adequate security for the matches, whom the owners denied to give and considered it unnecessary. The matter reached its peak, after the match against Deccan Chargers where Ness Wadia clashed with Mohali’s Senior Superintendent of Police, verbally and Wadia filed an official complaint against him on the charges of stealing alcohol and team merchandise as well as permitting unauthorized people to enter the stadium. Eventually, the problem was solved as he took back his complaint and the team came to a compromise with the police.
It was in 2008 itself that Kings XI Punjab were accused of being racist in the issue of not permitting South African cheerleaders, Ellesha Newton and Sherinne Anderson entry into the stadium in Mohali due to the colour of their skin. The Punjab team management denied the occurrence of this event and took the firm which provided the cheerleaders, to court.
Most of the 2009 and 2010 season passed on smoothly, although there was some hue and cry of something being fishy about the fact that Kumar Sangakkara was suddenly declared captain of the team in 2010 although under Yuvraj Singh, the team did not fare that poorly. It was not very well received for sure by the Kings XI Punjab fans for most of the tournament, as in fact under Sanga the team’s performance was worse.
In late 2010, Kings XI Punjab alongside the Rajasthan Royals were expelled from the IPL by the BCCI with no major reason given behind the move. It was suspected that this was done due to Lalit Modi, the former IPL commissioner having a silent stake in the team due to his family relations with the Burmans, especially Gaurav Burman who is his stepson-in-law. Punjab had to fight a tough case against the BCCI in the Bombay High Court, and eventually won the case since the court could not understand the BCCI’s logic in committing such an action and instead accusing them of expelling the team so that other investors can buy this franchise in the near future for a much higher price and that money would go in the already colossal BCCI treasury.
Due to the financial clauses Kings XI Punjab had to adhere to in order to remain in the IPL, the team had a $USD 7 million purse to spend in the auction. Yet, much to the surprise of many, alongside the Royals, they seemed to miscalculate their player purchases and consequently bought a lesser number of players in comparisons to the other teams and still had a huge amount left to be spent by the end of the auction. Till date, Punjab seems to be the weakest team in the IPL on paper and a lack of star players might affect them this season, although they were a little fortunate in 2011 due to consistent performances from Paul Valthaty and Piyush Chawla, to name a few.
Interesting facts about Kings XI Punjab
1) Kings XI Punjab is the first team in the history of the IPL to be owned by a Bollywood actress as Shilpa Shetty bought a stake in the Rajasthan Royals in 2009.
2) It is also the only team to have an international airline as its official sponsor, i.e. Emirates Airlines.
3) Adam Gilchrist was the captain of the Deccan Chargers team, which won the IPL in 2009. If he wins the IPL for Punjab this year, he will become the only captain to have led two different teams to the title win.
4) Adam Gilchrist has the maximum sixes in IPL cricket, having hit 82 sixes in 60 matches.
5) There was a straight swap in the IPL auction 2011 as Kumar Sangakkara, who was the captain of Punjab in 2010 became the captain of Deccan in 2011 while the vice-a-versa happened with Adam Gilchrist.
6) The trio of Adam Gilchrist, Ryan Harris and Harmeet Singh represented the Deccan Chargers in 2009 and 2010.
7) Shaun Marsh is the highest run-getter for Kings XI Punjab in IPL history, as he has scored 1267 runs in 29 matches.
8) Shaun Marsh, Piyush Chawla and Shalabh Shrivastava are the only three players who have played for Kings XI Punjab in the last four seasons of the IPL.
9) Azhar Mahmood was a former Pakistani all-rounder, but now is considered British by nationality due to a change of citizenship and passport.
10) The duo of Ryan McLaren and Rajagopala Sathish represented the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2010.
11) Abhishek Nayar, Ramesh Powar and Paul Valthaty hail from the city of Mumbai.
12) David Hussey plays for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield in Australia, but represented the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL from 2008-2010, as he was purchased for $USD 625,000 despite not having played a single international match for Australia at the time and was valued at a much higher price than his elder brother, Michael Hussey.
13) David Hussey is currently the most expensive overseas player in IPL cricket, as he was picked for $USD 1.4 million by Kings XI Punjab in 2011 while Mahela Jayawardene, who is incidentally a former Kings XI Punjab player was picked by the Delhi Daredevils this year for the same price.
Leave a Reply