The Kings XI Punjab
April 11th 2008 23:41
Here's a team that really excites me - great names in international cricket as well as some of the new breed from around the world all coached by the brilliant Tom Moody. Definitely one to watch - here's the player profiles.
Yuvraj Singh
Captain
Age 26 years 119 days
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox
A Superstar of Indian cricket but I'm not sure if he deserves the tag. Way too erratic and unreliable - sure on his day he can smack it around - it's just not his day often enough - was terrible against the Australians.
Ajitesh Argal
Age 19 years 201 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium
Teenage medium pacer who will learn alot training alongside Brett Lee.
Piyush Chawla
Age 19 years 107 days
Playing role All-rounder
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Legbreak
The most exciting sight in international cricket was this teenager coming on to bowl for India in their tour of Australia. He had poise and control that belied his inexperience and as the great Shane Warne pointed out - he has that right attitude of always trying to get the batsman out.
Pankaj Dharmani
Age 33 years 195 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Has 125 first class matches and more than 8,000 runs at domestic level. Veteran who has been around for a while but might struggle to break into this very talented line up. Can keep wickets if Sangakkara wants to relinquish the gloves.
Rishi Dhawan
Age 18 years 50 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium-fast
Another teenage medium pacer with limited experience.
Karan Goel
Age 21 years 107 days
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Batsman who has been in the local competition for a few years now and shows some promise.
James Hopes
Age 29 years 168 days
Playing role All-rounder
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium
Talented Queensland Allrounder came of age last summer for the Australian team. Tidy medium pacer, hard hitting late order batsman - a really good pick up who should excel at this shortened form of the game
Mahela Jayawardene
Age 30 years 318 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium
The Sri Lankan captain who has shown great leadership abilities to go along with his glorious elegant right hand batting. Can score quickly and find the boundary.
Simon Katich
Age 32 years 232 days
Playing role Batsman
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Slow left-arm chinaman
Veteran Australian batsman who has found the best form in his career captaining New South Wales - earning a new Cricket Australia contract. Can bat anywhere in the order.
Uday Kaul
Age 20 years 129 days
Playing role Wicketkeeper
Batting Left-hand bat
Young local fast scoring batsman with some good performances at domestic level. Will be understudy to Sangakkara.
Sahil Kukreja
Age 22 years 275 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Young right hand batsman from Mumbai who has some good performances under his belt at domestic level. Will press his case for selection
Brett Lee
Age 31 years 153 days
Playing role Bowler
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm fast
One of the world's fastest and most entertaining bowlers. Can also swing the bat in the lower order. Will love this competition and playing in India - has an affinity with the country let's just hope we don't have to endure more of his attempts as a Hindi pop star - acharr
Shaun Marsh
Age 24 years 275 days
Playing role Lower middle order batsman
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox
Untried at international level - Marsh is the son of former Australian test opener and coach Geoff Marsh. Might struggle to get a game with the talented Sri Lankans in the middle order.
Kyle Mills
Age 29 years 25 days
Playing role Bowler
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm fast-medium
Curly haired New Zealand quick has been around for some time and has a good record at all forms of the game. Good late order hitter will team up with Sreesanth and Brett Lee
Wilkin Mota
Age 26 years 202 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium
Mumbai allrounder who has been around for a while - hasn't really set the world on fire with bat or ball
Irfan Pathan
Age 23 years 165 days
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Left-arm medium-fast
Indian left armer with some claims to be an allrounder - can be a more than useful bat but inconsistency has plagued his career since he burst onto the international scene.
Luke Pomersbach
Age 23 years 194 days
Playing role Batsman
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Interesting selection as the young Australian is untried at national level but had a stellar in domestic cricket in Australia. Also has a great 20Twenty record that probably played in his favour. had some discipline problems along with Shaun Marsh so Coach Moody might want to keep an eye on them.
Ramesh Powar
Age 29 years 325 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Feel the Powar - sorry couldn't help myself. He's been around for a while and played test and one day cricket for India but has a much better record domestically. Handy with the bat down the order and a useful offie.
Nitin Saini
Age 19 years 164 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Teenage wicket keeper batsman just starting out in domestic cricket - recruited as back up.
Kumar Sangakkara
Age 30 years 165 days
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Sublimely talented left handed batsman with the ability to turn a match on its head with his explosive yet elegant batting. Also a very fine wicket keeper - will be one of the stars of this competition.
Ramnaresh Sarwan
Age 27 years 291 days
Playing role Batsman
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Legbreak
Only now starting to realise the potential everyone knew this talented West Indian has. Should be a star at the top of the order.
Vikram Singh
Age 23 years 205 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium-fast
Has played tests and one dayers for India and taken alot of wickets at domestic level - probably in an ongoing battle with Sreesanth for the thrid seamers spot.
Sunny Sohal
Age 20 years 151 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Legbreak
Young local right hander who has just had hjis first taste of domestic cricket. Wouldn't expect him to figure in this competition.
Sreesanth
Age 25 years 63 days
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm fast-medium
Fiery young Indian paceman who showed that he would not take a backward step in the contest against Australia. Will have fun bowling alongside Lee
Tanmay Srivastava
Age 18 years 154 days
Batting Left-hand bat
Bowling Right-arm medium
18 year old batsman who has had a great first season domestically. Will be struggling to get a game with this team though.
Tom Moody
Coach
Age 42 years 190 days
Playing role Higher middle order batsman
Batting Right-hand bat
Bowling Right
A terrific cricket who has turned into a master coach - witness his taking the Sri Lankan one day team to the World Cup Final. Clever thinker could make the difference in this competition.
Read on to the next post for a summary of their chances
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