Sunil Gavaskar reckons Punjab Kings do not have an impact player and because of that they will not be able to win the IPL title again this year. At the same time, Gavaskar has added that there is indeed less pressure on the Punjab players because there are lesser expectations on them.
Punjab Kings are one of the existing franchises that is yet to establish their dominance in the Indian Premier League (IPL). They made it to the final only once back in IPL 2014 season before surrendering at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders. Since then, they failed to make it to the Playoffs and ran through inconsistent patches.
However, this time around, Punjab has made a few prominent buys, including the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada. The duo was quite consistent at Delhi Capitals in the past few seasons. Besides that, they also roped in Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, and Rahul Chahar, while Mayank Agarwal will captain the team from IPL 2022.
Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer-turned-commentator, Sunil Gavaskar feels Punjab Kings would not win the trophy this time as well. Gavaskar reckons that Punjab does not have an impact player to make a serious bid for the title.
Gavaskar, while speaking to Sports Tak, said, “Punjab Kings is one of those teams who are yet to win the title. This time, I don’t think they have an impact player in the team they have built. On the other hand, though, this could also benefit the side. When there are very low expectations, there is very less pressure.”
Further, Gavaskar added that a team with low expectations might do well since there is less pressure on them, but still, it would not be enough for them to lift the title.
“However, this could work in the side’s favour. There’s less pressure when there aren’t any. Is it possible that they will take home the trophy? That is highly unlikely. “You have to be in that regular cycle of winning in a T20 format,” he concluded.
Punjab Kings will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their opening fixture of IPL 2022 on March 27. The game will take place at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai.
