The Punjab Kings have been given a big jolt ahead of the start of the IPL 2023 season as star England batter-keeper Jonny Bairstow has been ruled out of the tournament. PBKS have replaced Bairstow with uncapped Australian all-rounder Matt Short.
PBKS had been hoping for Bairstow to open alongside new skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who takes over the captaincy duties from Mayank Agarwal, who was released by PBKS ahead of the auction, where SRH picked him.
Now, Punjab have a slight conundrum. In place of Bairstow, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was impressive with his belligerent hitting in the last IPL, can come in but the Sri Lankan has been in disastrous form for a while now; Matt Short, who was the Player of the Tournament in the BBL and the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament, can open with Dhawan, but Short has not experience of the IPL and little of playing in Asian conditions.
Punjab Kings finished 6th in IPL 2022, but still dropped Agarwal
PBKS have not reached the playoffs since 2014!
3 of the 4 overseas slots for Punjab are fixed: Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone, and Sam Curran, for whom PBKS forked out INR 18.5 crore in the auction making the England all-rounder the most expensive player ever in the IPL. Nathan Ellis, Rajapaksa, Matt Short, and Sikandar Raza will be competing for one overseas slot.
PBKS’ strongest, predicted XI for IPL 2023:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Matt Short/Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran, Rishi Dhawan/Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh, Rahul Chahar
Punjab Kings squad for IPL 2023:
Shikhar Dhawan (C), Matthew Short, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Sikandar Raza, Raj Bawa, Rishi Dhawan, Liam Livingstone, Atharva Taide, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Baltej Singh, Sam Curran, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Harpreet Bhatia, Vidwath Kaverappa, Shivam Singh, Mohit Rathee
