Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh has admitted that his team’s depleted bowling stocks is a worry ahead of IPL.

Australia fast bowlers Brett Lee and James Hopes were both called up for national duty for the series against Pakistan leaving their availability for the IPL limited to about two weeks in May.

Kings XI’s leading bowler S Sreesanth has already been ruled out due to injury, but Yuvraj Singh is confident the rest of the squad would lift their game.

“We have a good team this season although the worry is the pace department,” Yuvraj said.

Yuvi banking on batting

“However, our batting is pretty strong. We have Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who are available for the whole tournament.

“We also have Ravi Bopara this year and he can bowl a bit.

“I’m sure they would all rise to the occasion.”

Yuvi keen to repeat his T20 WC exploits

Yuvraj dazzled with the bat during India’s triumph in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in 2007 and Yuvraj is keen to return to the scene of one his greatest exploits.

“I didn’t do too well on the tour of New Zealand,” he said.

“Obviously, you can’t score big in every series when you are a stroke-maker but I hope to make amends in the IPL. I am keen to test my skills with the bat.

“The pitches in South Africa are all good for batting perhaps with the exception of Durban. The wicket there is a bouncy.

“But individual feats look nice only if your team does well. It’s important to consistently win matches.”
Source – espnstar.com

Bollywood actor and owner of the Kings XI Punjab, Preity Zinta, introduced her team in Mumbai last evening.

When asked by the media Zinta, said that there were some new inclusions in her team.

“We have a new boy called Bird Cocklin who is an Australian. He is one of the best fast bowlers there. He bowls at over 140 kilometers an hour. I think you would know of him only when you see him play. We also have Yusaf Abdullah, who is one of the best T-20 bowlers,” she said.

Yuvraj Singh, who is the captain of the Kings XI Punjab team, said that the Indian Premier League (IPL) would be a good exposure before the T-20 World Cup to be staged in England in June.

“I think IPL has come at the right time before the World Cup. Before the World Cup, we are going to have fourteen games to get into the semifinals which will give us a lot practice,” said Yuvraj Singh.

The IPL, which involves many of the world’s leading players, was a huge success in its inaugural edition in cricket-crazy India last year, primarily because it is structured around city-based franchises with a fan base in home and away matches.The eight-team league would be staged in South Africa from April 18 due to security reasons and would return to India next season.
Source – dailyindia.com

Kings XI Punjab will be sporting new colours in the second edition of the DLF Indian Premier League that commences on April 18 in South Africa.

The Punjab based team has signed a three-year multi-million dollar deal with Dubai based airline Emirates.

The new jersey was unveiled in Mumbai on Saturday with skipper Yuvraj Singh and co-owner Preity Zinta sporting the new look. The team‘s jersey has been conceptualized by the team’s co owner Zinta and their partner – Reebok.

Dubai-based Emirates airline will be the team’s title sponsors with eight other brands- Gulf Oil, Nimbooz, Netlinkblue, Reebok, Springbok Intl, Royal Challenge, Dabur Glucose-D and Orbit.

Mohit Burman, co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, said: “We will create the same buzz in South Africa as we would have created in India”.

Kings XI Punjab started the first season of DLF Indian Premier League on a disastrous note losing its first opening two matches ,but then recovered its lost ground and went on to play the semi finals against Chennai Super Kings.
Source – khabrein.info

Kings X1 Punjab :-

Owner – Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul & Mohit Burman (Dabur)
CEO – Neil Maxwell
Captain – Yuvraj Singh (India)
Coach – Tom Moody (Australia)
Assistant  Coach – Trevor Penney (Zimbabwe)
Assistant Coach – Dave Nosworthy (South Africa)
Physiotherapis – Patrick Farhart

Batsman:-
Simon Katich (Australia)
Sunny Sohal (India)
Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka)
Tanmay Srivastava (India)
Sahil Kukreja (India)
Shawn Marsh (Australia)
Yash Gandhi (India)
Karan Goel (India)
Luke Pomersbach (Australia)

Bowlers:-
Yusuf Abdulla (south Africa)
Sreesanth (India)
Brett Lee (Australia)
Vikram Raj Vir Singh (India)
Burt Cockley (Australia)
Ajitesh Argal (India)

All Rounders:-
Yuvraj Singh (India)
Irfan Pathan (India)
James Hopes (Australia)
Piyush Chawla (India)
Ramesh Powar (India)
Ravi Bopara (England)
Wilkin Mota (India)
Ryan Ninan (India)

Wicket Keepers:-
Kumar Sangakkara (SriLanka)
Uday Kaul (India)

Yusuf Abdullah, the South African pace bowler, will be joining the King’s XI Punjab squad to replace the injured West Indies pace bowler Jerome Taylor for the upcoming second season of the IPL.

Speaking on this, an elated Abdullah said, “I’m quite excited about the upcoming challenge. The IPL is in town and this is a good opportunity for me, hopefully I can do well.”

The 26 year old left arm bowler made an inspiring international debut for South Africa in a twenty20 international against Australia last week. At present, Abdulla is one of the most in-formed bowler for the South African team in domestic competition. He has already played 26 T20 matches.

Commenting over Abdullah inclusion in the team, Kings XI Punjab Co-Promoter, Ness Wadia said, “We are excited to have Yusuf as part of our squad, as he will bring with him the local knowledge and experience of playing in a T20 format in South Africa.”

Earlier this year, the King’s XI had picked pace bowler Taylor. However, he has been ruled out of the IPL after sustaining an injury from a car accident.

It can be recalled that Kings XI’s pace battery is suffering from injury problems. Taylor is the third on its injury list after S. Sreesanth and Aussie fast bowler Brett Lee, who is recovering from a foot injury.

Apart from this, the Punjab team has also signed up Dave Nosworthy, head coach of the Lions, to assist coach Tom Moody.
Source – topnews.in