Released players: Glenn Maxwell, Sheldon Cottrell, K Gowtham, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen, Karun Nair, Jagadeesh Suchit, Tajinder Singh.
Retained Players: KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Prabhsimran Singh, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Darshan Nalkande, Ravi Bishnoi, Murugan Ashwin, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar, Ishan Porel.
Remaining purse: 53.20 crore
Kings X1 Punjab has the highest remaining purse among all the teams. 53.20 Crore is a very big amount to add new players. They have a total of 9 available slots, including 5 overseas players.
So, there is no denying that they will be heavily concerned on buying foreigners during the upcoming IPL 2021 auction. Last season was also an unlucky outing for them. During the starting few matches their performance was pathetic, but during the second half of the league they bounced back but just missed out to qualify for playoffs.
Kings XI Punjab line-up lacks a proper quality all-rounder. So, it will be their first priority during the forthcoming IPL 2021 auction. Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell had a season of IPL 2020 simply to forget, where he scored only 108 runs in 11 innings. Due to his poor performance, KXIP had no choice but to release him due to his huge salary cap of INR 10.75 crore.
But since the end of the IPL 2020, Maxwell has been in tremendous form in BBL 2020/21. As he is been a renowned figure with the KXIP team, the franchise should try their best to buy him again from the IPL 2021 auction, most probably in lesser salary.
With Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul set to spearhead their top-order next season, Alex Carey can be a sensible buy for them if they want to provide some stability in the middle order.
The Australian wicketkeeper-batsman scored a quick-fire century in the Big Bash League (BBL) to raise his stands ahead of IPL 2021. His BBL performance would surely be in back of the mind of KXIP franchisee. He also adds a new dimension with his wicket keeping skills which may come handy at times when KL Rahul needs him as a specialist wicket keeper.
There is no denying the fact that Steve Smith’s surprise exclusion from Rajasthan Royals team have surprised all franchisee. Steve Smith can be a very valuable addition to KXIP knowing the fact that he can provide a great stability for the middle order.
Smith has been a very valuable batsman in domestic cricket’s biggest extravaganza. KXIP can look forward at purchasing him and this will bring more experience to the squad and may change KXIP fortunes.