PUNJAB: A TEAM OF MISMANAGEMENT

Punjab Kings, earlier known as Kings XI Punjab is one of the few teams that has not won the IPL title yet after playing in the tournament since its beginning. Every year, the Punjab team goes to an auction, spends a large amount of money, buys players, and makes a team that looks so good on paper that they can beat their opponent with ease. But when this particular team comes on the field, the story is different.

Throughout the 17 seasons, Punjab management did a lot of work, like changing the name of the team, the jersey, and the 15 captains. However, they were not able to change the performance of their team. Only once did they manage to play in the finals, which goes way back to 2014.

Before the start of every season, the Punjab team looks very promising, and they also perform well in their initial matches. Playing some great cricket and players performing brilliantly, giving hope to fans that maybe this is the season where they'll get to lift the trophy. 

But only after a few matches do they play like this side is never in the race for the title. Poor management decisions, losing matches with the narrowest margins on several occasions, and whatnot.

But what has been the reason behind not winning the trophy for the men of Punjab?

Flawed decision-making by management

Over the years, the Punjab team has been consistent about one thing: changing and chopping players. The management had made a lot of changes in their team by releasing players just after one bad season. Or sometimes letting go of the entire squad before the auction and deciding to form a new side. 

Punjab's management system is the opposite of other franchises that back their players and show faith in them. They do the complete opposite, like releasing them after a single failure. They were never able to build a strong core for their team.

Too many captains

Since the beginning of the IPL in 2008, PBKS has changed 15 captains across the seasons, which is the most by a team. But all this fuss never resulted in winning them a single title. When you keep changing the leader, it does not help in building a strong side.

Because every captain has different thinking and decision-making abilities. And when every year you play under a new leader, this will only result in chaos amongst players because they are not able to bond with the captain to form a strong side.

Improper Auction Planning

Before teams play on the field, a battle is done among all the franchise owners to buy players, which will help them build a strong team and win the trophy. Punjab Kings is one of the teams that believed in the concept of making the team from scratch. In every mega auction, they decided to retain the least number of players and believed in buying a whole new set of players and forming the squad.

This decision-making cost the team their balance because they were not retaining their core and depending on new players to perform from the word go. They let their core players go. Players like Yuvraj Singh, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Mohammed Shami, and Axar Patel, to name a few. A team is likely to suffer when their big names are left out of the squad.

Not Backing Youngsters Enough

Every franchise buys younger players and provides them with opportunities at the early stages of their careers. They see the potential in them to become the next big thing in cricket. The Punjab team did the same, but not enough to see them turning into future stars. They bought young, known players but didn't support them enough to be the big stars.

They released them after giving them very limited opportunities, or sometimes after warming the bench the whole season. Players like Varun Chakaravarthy, Rinku Singh, T Natrajan, Rahul Tewatia, and Shardul Thakur. These players were once part of the Punjab team but had hardly played for them, and today they are world-class players and match-winners for their respective franchises.