Players which KXIP should release ahead of IPL auction 2019: Sportsrush presents before you three names which SRH should release soon.

Year after year, it has been the same disappointing story for Kings XI Punjab. One of the three teams to have played since the inaugural season of the IPL (Indian Premier League) and yet to win a title, Punjab would be hoping to turn the tables this time round.

With six wins in 14 matches (and a negative Net Run Rate), Punjab ended IPL 11 on the seventh position, a rank above the bottom-ranked Delhi Daredevils. With Lokesh Rahul (659 runs in 14 matches at an average of 54.91 and a strike rate of 158.41) as an exception, none of the their batsmen featured in the Top 15 highest run-scorers in the tournament.

Among the bowlers, barring Mujeeb Ur Rahman (6.99), no other bowler featured in the Top 20 bowlers with the best economy rates in the season.

Their key bowling options in Barinder Sran (10.40), Mohit Sharma (10.85) and Marcus Stoinis (10.90), who played six, nine and seven matches respectively in the season leaked runs time and again.

With the auction before the next season of the IPL to be reportedly held on December 16 for the first time in Goa, Kings XI Punjab have a last chance of making much-needed amends for they would be hoping to make significant impact from the word go in IPL 2019.

The franchise might be both eagerly and efficiently planning regarding releasing some of its players before another reported deadline of November 15. Below are three names which SRH would be wanting to release:

Axar Patel

In the nine matches that Axar Patel had played in the last season of the IPL, he had picked up just three wickets at an average of 72.66, an economy rate of 8.38 and a strike rate of 52. With the bat, he had scored 80 runs at an average of 13.33 and a strike rate of 115.94.

Insufficient and scanty numbers such as these don’t justify an opulent price tag of INR 12.5 crores. If the upcoming season of the IPL happens in South Africa, Patel’s work might be cut-short further for Punjab have better spinners in captain Ravichandran Ashwin and Rahman.

Given his price tag, it will aid the franchise to fill other required spots.

Barinder Sran

In the six matches that Barinder Sran played this year, he picked up four wickets at an average of 57.25, a sky-high economy rate of 10.40 and a strike rate of 33. The 25-year old left-arm medium-fast bowler was belted for runs at will by the opposition batsmen.

Punjab had bought Sran for INR 2.2 crores, a price tag which he has failed to stand tall upon. It isn’t just the IPL, Sran’s performance has been below par across tournaments this year.

Releasing him will give Punjab the cushion of buying any in-form domestic pacer.

Ben Dwarshuis

During the auction before this year’s IPL, Kings XI Punjab had also bought New South Wales and Sydney Sixers’ Ben Dwarshuis. In a team which comprised of an overseas fast bowler in Andrew Tye, who ended the season as its highest wicket-taker, an overseas spinner in Rahman and an overseas fast bowling all-rounder in Marcus Stoinis, Dwarshuis didn’t get to play a match.

The argument that releasing him without giving him a game holds true but another truth is the fact that he hasn’t played a competitive T20 match since Sixers’ last BBL match in January this year.

With no insights on his current form, it is a tad risky to persist with him in the upcoming season. Again, KXIP can use INR 1.4 crores to buy a replacement for him.

Read some of the Twitter reactions on Kings XI Punjab below: