Punjab Kings (PBKS), the last season’s runners-up, have built a high-ceiling, high variance squad, stacked with allrounders. They, however, have a noticeable gap in the middle-order that could potentially upend their balance and expose vulnerabilities in high scoring games. Under captain Shreyas Iyer, they will be eyeing their maiden IPL crown.Strengths: With Marcus Stonis, Azmatullah Omarzai and Marco Jansen, PBSK can stretch their batting till No.8 without sacrificing their bowling options. In Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen, they possess two world-class left-arm seamers who can be summoned at any time of the game. The squad has a strong core of Indians, including Iyer, Arshdeep, Yuzvendra Chahal and Prabhsimran Singh.Weaknesses: Punjab lack an established high-scoring domestic opener, which could put the onus on their captain to do bulk of the scoring at the top of the order. Lockie Ferguson brings raw pace, but he has the propensity to be erratic. Ageing stars like Stoinis and Chahal’s impact remains intact, but their sustainability across a long tournament like the IPL remains a question.Opportunities: Young batters like Priyansh Arya can redefine Punjab’s starts in the Powerplay with players Musheer Khan and Suryansh Shegde could become the X-factors.Threats: PBKS’s over-dependence on Iyer or Arshdeep could prove to be their undoing. If either of the two have lean patches, their progression to the knockouts would appear uncertain. Overall, they have a team replete with options but yet to nail down their first-choice playing XI.
