Explosive Kings XI aim to go one better

1 Virender Sehwag, 2 M Vijay, 3 Manan Vohra, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 George Bailey, 6 David Miller, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 Axar Patel, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Sandeep Sharma 11 Rishi Dhawan/Shardul Thakur
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Runners-up. Had one hand on the trophy after scoring 199 in the final, but the grip slipped once they failed to control Manish Pandey.

Kings XI Punjab underwent such a positively radical change in the 2014 season - not only in assembling an enviable line-up of overseas cricketers purpose-built for T20 cricket, but also in extracting the best out of their local talent - it was no surprise that, apart from minor tinkering, they did not touch the squad ahead of the new season. So from a batting that was explosive right through the tournament last year - they had the best run-rate for any team across IPLs - more entertainment is in order.

George Bailey, the captain who did not get to spend much time in the middle last season, scored 257 runs at a strike rate of 135.26, fairly good numbers in their own right. But consider this: five batsmen scored more than him and all at a higher strike rate, with Glenn Maxwell - 552 runs at a strike rate of 187.75 - leading the pack. There were three Indians in that list - Virender Sehwag, expectedly, along with two surprises in Manan Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha.

That batting order has been further beefed up by the addition of M Vijay. Despite not having played a lot of limited-overs cricket recently, Vijay's reputation has been enhanced internationally after a fruitful year in Tests, and he will provide the solidity Kings XI sought from Cheteshwar Pujara last year, minus the drag.

Kings XI have retained the core of their bowling too, with only L Balaji missing from last year's squad. Shardul Thakur watched from the sidelines last season as Axar Patel, Sandeep Sharma and Rishi Dhawan achieved considerable success and were among the wickets. After a fantastic Ranji season, in which he finished as the joint highest wicket-taker, Thakur, too, can hope to be in the starting XI of a TRP-grabbing team.

Last season, it was a case of everyone coming together in perfect sync to make a perfect multi-punch combo and the credit for that went to the man behind the scenes. Sanjay Bangar, a quiet face at the Kings XI team table during the 2014 auction, had been behind designing an almost-perfect squad while others spent millions of rupees chasing big names. At the end of the season, Bailey appreciated Bangar's role by saying, "Everything you see and like about Kings XI starts with Sanjay Bangar." This season, more than entertainment, what the Bangar-led team management would want is a perfect finish.

Last season, Glenn Maxwell personified how Kings XI played their cricket - unhindered, unbridled aggression - and a year since then, as his 53-ball 102 against Sri Lanka in the World Cup showed, there is no sign of a change in style. He complained about losing momentum after being rested in the latter half of last season, but the crowds will be expecting him to smash the ball into the stands every single game this time.

Mitchell Johnson may not have been menacing last season nor was he the side's leading wicket-taker but there was no questioning the fact that he was their leader. With an experienced Johnson to advise them on the field, Sandeep and Dhawan, without express pace, managed to snare 31 batsmen between them. Johnson had an average World Cup until he ramped up in the knockouts and was the leading wicket-taker in the final, which bodes well for Kings XI.

Kings XI entered this year's auction with only a minor requirement - a replacement for Cheteshwar Pujara - and they found a solid batsman in M Vijay for Rs 3 crores. Vijay was a good buy, but check this out: the team bought Yogesh Golwalkar, a 35-year-old legspinner, for Rs 10 lakh. What Pravin Tambe has shown is that one doesn't need major cricket league pedigree to succeed in the IPL. Golwalkar may sound like Kings XI's Tambe-like pick, but the bowler has a solid first-class experience, with 45 games and 21 List A matches. In his eight-year career that ended in 2008, he played most of his cricket for Madhya Pradesh but was also called up by county side Middlesex as a replacement for Stuart Clark.

Everyone available.

Head coach - Sanjay Bangar, Bowling coach - Joe Dawes, Fielding coach - R Sridhar