4 players KXIP might release next year

It was a season of two halves for the Kings XI Punjab and after 14 matches, and despite galloping along in the first month, they crawled, stumbled and were a pale shadow of the team which started off the season.

While KL Rahul and Chris Gayle were superb with the bat, few other marquee names just did not turn up for them this season.

We take a look at four players who might find it difficult to continue with the Kings XI Punjab in 2019.

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#4 Barinder Sran

The left-arm seamer was brilliant for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2015 and 2016 and made a name for himself with the late inswinging ball. He was also included in the Indian team, but it has since been a downhill journey for him.

Sran was one of the main bowlers for the Kings, but was not effective at all, both with the new and old ball and had to benched in favour of other options.

He could only play eight matches and was only able to pick up four wickets at an average of 58 and with an economy rate of 10.40.

Kings XI could look at other options instead of Sran next season.

#3 Mayank Agarwal

Despite having a prolific domestic season, Mayank Agarwal was nowhere close to his best for Kings XI Punjab, as a result of which he had to be axed from the team.

He got off to great starts in every match, but could never dig in and play an innings of note right through the tournament.

Punjab could well look at other options, more so at players who are finishers and Agarwal could be swapped ahead of the next season.

#2 Marcus Stoinis

The Australian all-rounder was retained by the franchise using their RTM card, but it has been a frustrating season for the player.

Initially, he was plagued with injuries and when he got the chance to feature in the side, he never got going. He was a disappointment, both with the bat and ball and Punjab might look around for a better all-round option next season as they already have Andrew Tye as a much better seam-bowling all-rounder.

#1 Yuvraj Singh

The southpaw was back to where it all began for him in 2008, but such were the miserable returns that it became an absolute pity to watch him play this season.

He struggled against pace and bounce and he struggled against spin, a season which zipped past Yuvraj trying to find his voice, a season which he would want to forget in a haste.

The enigmatic batsman featured in eight matches, but could only manage to accumulate 65 runs. He averaged 10.83 and his strike rate of 89 screamed out for attention and Kings XI would want to bid him goodbye come 2019 and look for a better replacement in the middle order.