General / Jaymes Monte / 17 April 2009 /

Led by one the ultimate superstars of Twenty20 cricket, the explosive and inspirational Yuvraj Singh, the Kings XI Punjab have just the right mix of hard-hitting batting and economical bowling, says Jaymes Monte.

The Indian state of Punjab covers an area of 50,000 square kilometres, has a population of around 25million people and shares a border with Pakistan. It is the birth place of current Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla and one time WWE World Heavyweight Champion (yes, that's right!) 'The Great Khali'. And it will soon have another set of heroes to add to that list, the 2009 Indian Premier League champions elect; Kings XI Punjab.

Despite losing their opening two fixtures in the inaugural 2008 Indian Premier League, Kings XI Punjab went on to finish second in the league stages of the tournament and book themselves a semi-final spot.

A major factor of that success was the discovery of eventual orange cap (worn by the batsman who has scored the most runs at that stage of the competition, a bit like the yellow jersey in the Tour De France) winner Shaun Marsh, who was initially overlooked in both the 2008 IPL player auctions. Marsh missed the first four games of the tournament, then came in and scored 438 runs in 8 games resulting in an average of 54.75. This year he, along with fellow Australian James Hopes will be missing for the first two thirds of the tournament due to their tour commitments with the Australian national team.

Marsh's absence will mean that the onus will fall on fellow Australians Luke Pomersbach and Simon Katich as well as Kumar Sangakkara, new signing Ravi Bopara and "icon player" Yuvraj Singh to put the runs on the board. Yuvraj's ability to score runs and score big was highlighted in England's tour of India this winter where he destroyed the English bowling line-up on more than one occasion in the ODI series. And who can forget that magical over in the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup where he smashed a distraught Stuart Broad for 6 sixes in one over on his way to making the fastest ever fifty in international cricket, coming from just 12 balls.

Kolkata Knight Riders fans may want to get comfortable behind the sofa on the 21st April as Yuvraj makes his return to the scene of the crime, Kingsmead Durban, for one of six Kings XI games that will be played at the ground. Any team who has a man of this capability at the helm stands more than a good chance in any Twenty20 cricket match.

With restrictions placed on the number of overseas players allowed to play for each team, the underlying key to success in the IPL lies in the strength of a side's Indian contingent. This is where Kings XI Punjab surpass and outshine the other franchises. The Indians make up a deadly bowling attack with Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan and PP Chawla who were all amongst the top ten wicket takers in last year's league, taking 16, 13 and 12 wickets respectively.

Add the exciting youngster VRV Singh and off-spinner all rounder Ramnesh Powar into the mix and it is not hard to see why they finished with ten wins and a net run rate of +0.509 in the league stage.

Now that we've established that the Kings XI have quality and strength in their batting and bowling attacks, the third and final piece of the jigsaw lies in the captaincy. Here the Kings XI take strength from the old adage 'Two heads are better than one'. In captain Yuvraj Singh they have a figure head who is an inspiration in his approach to the Twenty20 format of the game, and his statistics alone command the upmost respect.

Then alongside him, he has an experienced campaigner in the shape of former Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene. Jayawardene has received numerous awards for his captaincy skills throughout his career including the 'Captain of the Year 2006' award from the International Cricket Council. This combination of respect and experience and flair and consistency is a powerful weapon in the Kings XI's arsenal.

By the time Shaun Marsh and James Hopes arrive in South Africa the Kings XI will be well set to make a final push into the semi-finals and onwards through to the final in The Wanderers Stadium. So dust off your Kings XI merchandise and get set for the sixes to come raining down from Yuvraj's bat, because the boys in red and grey will be the ones celebrating beneath the ticker tape come May 24th.

The Kings XI Punjab are currently trading at [9.2] to win.

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