3 players Kings XI Punjab are expected to retain for IPL 2018

Kings XI Punjab are one of the the few teams whom have been right from the first season and yet are waiting to win the tournament.

They might have not won the IPL yet, but they have successfully entertained their fans throughout all the 10 seasons.

In 2014, the excellent form of David Miller & Glenn Maxwell took them to the finals, but there have been times when they have struggled to reach the top 4 as well.

The Preity Zinta owned side will be looking to add new players to their squad in the 2018 auctions. However, they already have some jewels in their side which they would not want to let go of.

Here are the 3 players whom The Kings XI Punjab - KXIP will be looking to retain for IPL 2018:

1. Glenn Maxwell

The only time when The Kings XI Punjab stormed to the final in 2014 was when Glenn Maxwell put up a solid show with the bat.

He scored 95, 89 and 95 in the first three games of the 2014 season, which were held in the UAE. Maxwell was the third highest scorer of the season, scoring 552 runs for his team.

Overall, he has scored 1228 runs at an average of 25 and strike rate of 164.39 in 57 matches in the IPL.

Surprisingly, the Australian all-rounder hasn't performed upto our expectations of late.

But one thing is sure, whenever Maxwell gets going, he can tear any bowling line up and win you the game single handedly.

2. David Miller

David Miller was the only international player whom The Kings XI Punjab had retained in 2014. The hard hitting, ferocious batsman, currently is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball, which is evident from the fact that he holds the record of the 3rd fastest ton in the history of the IPL, scoring 101* off just 38 balls against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Miller's IPL stats look impressive too, as he has scored 1563 runs at an average of 35.52 with 8 half centuries and a century to his name. KXIP wouldn't want to let go of him.

3. Sandeep Sharma

So much has been spoken of the Kings XI batting, that we often fail to recognize the importance of Sandeep Sharma in an ordinary bowling line up. The swing bowler from Punjab is capable of swinging the ball both the ways, and is considered to be as the centerpiece of the Kings XI bowling line-up.

He has taken 71 wickets from the 56 IPL games which he has played at an economy rate of 7.7, which speaks about his consistency - who predominantly bowls in the power-play & death overs. He became the first bowler to dismiss the RCB trio of Gayle, AB & Virat in a single season in the last season itself.

And this all is even better considering that he is just 24 years old. Retaining Sandeep shall clearly be one of the straightforward decisions the team management would have to take.

Cheers,
Sparsh