IPL 2018: Top takeaways for the eliminated teams

#3 Kings XI Punjab

Rahul looked like a man on a mission every time he graced the field

Preity Zinta's auction strategy of going for a multitude of players during the auction was trolled on social media. However, Kings XI had a dream start to the season, winning five out of their first six matches (direct opposite to that of MI) and for a moment, it looked like the trolls were all going down the drain.

In a diabolic turnaround of events, Kings could manage to win only one of their remaining eight matches and found themselves out of the tournament. Individual performances of Ankit Rajpoot and Chris Gayle hogged the limelight for a few matches, but they lacked the consistency of a formidable force.

Without a doubt, this season belonged to Lokesh Rahul and Andrew Tye- the holders of the orange and the purple caps for a significant fraction of the season. Rahul scored 659 runs at an average of 55, striking at almost 160 - very impressive number! Tye ended the season with 24 wickets at 8 runs per over.

The fact that even with their dream run Punjab failed to qualify for the playoffs tells a lot about the quality in the team. Debutant Mujeeb Ur Rahman was also a standout performer in the spin department as he picked up 14 wickets at an economy rate of 7.