Opening batsmen Aaron Finch and Lokesh Rahul of Kings XI Punjab have a deadly combo at top of the order. While KL Rahul was in sublime form as an opener for Royal Challengers Bangalore last year. KL Rahul was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2013 as a wicket keeper-batsman. He was then picked by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in 2014 for INR 1 crore. In 2016, he was back in the RCB camp and came into prominence that season. He ended up with 397 runs from 14 matches at 44.11 and strike rate of 146.49. Since, he has been an integral part of the RCB squad. However, injury saw him sit out of the 2017 edition of IPL.

This time around, Rahul is set to go all the way to the north. He was the second most expensive Indian player in this edition of IPL after Jaydev Unadkat. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) bought him for INR 11 crores. Apart from batting, Rahul might also be seen in an additional role – wicketkeeper. Rahul, nevertheless, is excited for the new journey.

Kings XI Punjab complete squad: Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar