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The Kushanas were a Turkish nomadic tribe of shepherds called the Yue-Chi or the Yakshas by the Chinese historians. They were living in north western China. About BC 165 they were driven from their homelands by another nomadic tribe called the Huns. The Yue-chi tribe, marching along the edge of Gobi desert, came at length to the banks of the Jaxartes River and settled there. Here they came into conflict with the Sakas who have lived there for ages and drove them to the south. The Sakas went southwards in India and took possession of the territory of the Indo Greeks in the southern Afghanistan. The Yue-chi moved to the valley of the Oxus and then to Bactria, Parthia and Afghanistan. In the course of time, the Yue-chi gave up their nomadic habits and were divided into five principalities. One of these branches, the Kushanas established a large kingdom on the ruins of the former Bactrian and Parthian Kingdoms.

The first Kushana king in the North West was Kujula Kadphises or Kadphises I. he had a long victorious career. Having imposed his authority on his own people, he too like the Bactrian Greeks of old crossed over the Hindukush and occupied the Kabul Valley and then extended his sway over Kandhara. His advances across the Hindukush involved the final collapse of the Parthian and Greek authority which was still lingering in this region. A very large number of coins of Kadphises I have been discovered. Kujula was succeeded by his son Wima Kadphises or Kadphises II who conquered the Punjab by defeating the Saka Satraps of Taxila. He was a powerful king who issued coins and sent embassy to the court of the Roman emperor, Trojan. It helped the development of commerce between the Roman Empire and the kingdom of Kadphises II. The coins of Kadphises II are of gold and copper. They have on them the figure of lord Shiva with Nandi (lord Shiva’s bull) which indicates that he was a follower of Buddhism.

The most famous king of the Kushana dynasty was Kanishka. When he came to the throne, he transferred his seat of government to Peshawar as it was the central point to govern his vast empire. Here he built a great wooden tower about 400 feet high in honour of Buddha and also built a monastery which continued to exist as late as the 11^th century AD. He conquered Kashmir and Turkistan. He defeated the Saka Satraps of the Punjab and Mathura and put an end to their remaining power. He extended his authority upto Patliputra in the northern India. Kanishka ruled over a vast empire which included provinces and states in India as well as beyond Afghanistan. Bactria, Kashgar, Khotam and Yarkand formed parts of his empire. His inscriptions found at different places indicate that his empire extended upto modern Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab, the North Western Frontiers and Bahawalpur to the north of India. The Power of Kushanas was eclipsed by the Sasanids in the west. The later Kushana kings Vasudeva II, Kanishka II and Vasudeva III exercised nominal sovereignty over the shrunken dominions.

 

Punjabi Spirit A mixture of different world cultures, Kings XI Punjab is the youngest team in the IPL season 2009. Captained by Yuvraj Singh the franchisee of the team is owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, her beau Ness Wadia, Karan Paul’s APeeJay group and Mohit Burman’s Dabur. Punjabis are called ‘lion hearted’ people in

India. They are famous for their bravado, fighting spirit and ‘never to give-up’ character. And most of the players of the team are Punjabi as for as their character in the cricket world is concerned. Whether it is the Indian players or the foreigner players in the team they are true to the Punjabi spirit. Yuvraj Singh, Simon Katich , VRV Singh, Brett lee, Kumar Sangakara, Sreesnath, Irfan Pathan, Mahela Jayawardhene and Ramnaresh Sarwan, all are famous for their attacking game in their respective fields. It will be a big mischief if we ignore Ravinder Bopara, in the presence of other international cricket players in the Kings XI Punjab squad.

  Figures Till May, 9

Punjab team had played 10 matches and had won 5 out of them. With five wins they were placed at the fourth position along with Rajasthan Royals.

Punjab team is in a ‘must win’ situation to keep its semifinal hopes alive. It is yet to play four league matches and needs four consecutive wins to reach the semifinal round. It is in this situation because of the failure of the middle order. It had lost its three league matches with a very narrow margin. This has happened because of the failure of the middle order batsmen. Lack of experience is also affecting the team. In these three matches

Punjab team was in a winning position but its batsmen could not convert the victory possibilities into a sure win.

Punjab team has more fast bowlers as compared to the other IPL teams. But they have failed to contain their opponent batmen and had been ‘humiliated’ badly. Absence of Brett Lee was also affecting the team. His return to the team has started to produce positive results. It was because of him that Kings XI Punjab won its May, 9 match against the Deccan Chargers. He performed well both with bowl and bat. In the last overs of the match, with 7 wickets down,

Punjab was in a ‘run-a-ball’ situation. In this tight situation some of its star batsmen had failed under pressure. Brett Lee played some good shots and hit some massive hits and turned the results into

Punjab’s favor. 

 

Yuvraj Hero of the NatWest Series final 2002, Yuvrav Singh is the star attraction in the Kings XI Punjab team. An inseparable part of the Indian Cricket team, Yavraj is famous for hitting sixes. In the first T20 World Cup tournament he had grabbed headlines by hitting six sixes in an over. It was

England fast bowler Stuart Broad who had suffered the humiliation. With this performance Yuvraj had become the fourth batman who had hit six sixes in an over and the first batsman to hit six sixes in the T20 format. Except batting, Yuvraj is also known for his fielding. He is used also as a part-time bowler and has proved out to be effective in many matches. He was declared ‘Man of the Match’ on May, 1 in the match played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab.

Punjab had lost this match but Yuvraj was declared man of the match for his all-round performance. He has made 50 runs and has taken three wickets (hat-trick). This is the one example that shows that he is the ‘one man army’ in the shortest form of cricket. But critics say that Kings XI Punjab’s captaincy has severely affected his performance and is the reason behind his batting failures in the ongoing T20 tournament. But these arguments can be ruled out on the basis of his previous year’s performance in the IPL tournament.

 Stuffed with stars, Kings XI Punjab team can turn the tables. They are no less than other IPL teams as for as the cricketing ability is concerned. It is only the confidence they lack. It has one of the fastest bowling attacks as compared to the other IPL teams. Nobody can rule out as IPL favorites.