Mullanpur, Apr 21:
Punjab Kings’ well-rounded bowling attack has emerged as a defining force in their IPL 2026 campaign, drawing high praise from former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, who believes the side’s strength lies in its ability to deploy a variety of wicket-taking options at different phases of the game.
Following PBKS’ dominant 54-run win over the Lucknow Super Giants, du Plessis highlighted how the team’s diverse bowler arsenal allows them to stay one step ahead, adapting seamlessly to match situations while maintaining an attacking edge.
“When we are talking about putting bowling attacks together, you want variety. As a captain, you’ve got all the different guns at your disposal that you can just pull the trigger at different stages and that’s what gives them very, very great variety in their bowling attack,” he told ESPNcricinfo.
He pointed out that PBKS’ attack is built around genuine wicket-taking options rather than defensive containment, making them a constant threat to opposition batters.“You have to look at what they have in their team. It’s not a team that is lacking offensive skill sets.
Their skill sets can go defensive. But you look at the names in that bowling attack, it’s all frontline attacking bowlers – Marco Jansen, (Xavier) Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh. It is all genuine wicket-takers with the new ball there, with the skill set of swinging the ball; tall bowlers getting bounce; Arshdeep is a good yorker bowler with the new ball. So it’s not by chance that they are one of the better bowling units,” he said.