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aakash-chopra
Punjab Kings will open their 2021 IPL contest against the Rajasthan Royals on April 12. Ahead of the 14th season of the IPL, Aakash Chopra has forecasted his ideal playing XI for Punjab Kings. Chopra believes that KL Rahul and Chris Gayle should open the innings for the Punjab Kings. For the number three spot, Chopra picked Mayank Agarwal. He further stated that Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda should occupy the No.4 and No.5 slots.
Aakash Chopra selects Punjab Kings’ bowling unit
The renowned commentator Aakash Chopra also felt that Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques should find a spot on the Punjab side. Henriques can provide the much-needed balance in the team. According to Chopra, the team could play one of Shahrukh Khan, Mandeep Singh, or Sarfaraz Khan at No.7. The veteran also felt that with such a determined batting line-up, the Mohali based franchise should play with a lot of freedom.
For the bowling unit, Aakash Chopra picked Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, and Jhye Richardson. Chopra finally signed off by stating that if the Punjab side wants to play an extra pacer, they can include Arshdeep Singh into the playing XI.
Punjab Kings started the IPL mini-auction 2021 with a wallet of Rs 53.20 crore. The franchise was anticipated to make some big moves in the market, and they have not disappointed. They bought Australian cricketers Jhye Richardson for Rs 14 crore, Moises Henriques for Rs 4.2 crore and Riley Meredith for Rs 8 crore. The side also fetched in uncapped batsman Shahrukh Khan for Rs 5.25 crore.
Apart from the big purchases, they made some budget buys as well. They bought number one ranked T20 batsman Dawid Malan for Rs 1.50 crore, Jalaj Saxena for Rs 30 lakh, all-rounder Saurabh Kumar for Rs 20 lakh, Utkarsh Singh for Rs 20 lakh.
Aakash Chopra’s Predicted playing XI
Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Moises Henriques, Mandeep Singh/Shahrukh Khan/ Sarfaraz Khan, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Jhye Richardson, Mohammed Shami.
IPL 2021: Punjab Kings full squad
KL Rahul (C/WK), Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, Prabsimran Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran (WK), Dawid Malan,Chris Jordan, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Murugan Ashwin, Moises Henriques, Shahrukh Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Jhye Richardson, Harpreet Brar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Porel, Darshan Nalkande, Riley Meredith, Jalaj Saxena, Utkarsh Singh, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar