Anil Kumble is the new head coach of Kings XI Punjab. He has been appointed as the in charge of “all cricket-related affairs” of the team as well for the foreseeable future.
The co-owner of the franchise Mohit Burman has confirmed the news of Kumble’s appointment. This makes Kumble the only Indian coach in the IPL. Kumble, according to ESPNcricinfo, would make a presentation to the team management on his plans for the road ahead on October 19. On the same day, Ravichandran Ashwin’s fate in the KXIP will also be decided.
Earlier the team had coaches like Sanjay Bangar between 2014 and 2016, Virender Sehwag in 2017 followed by Brad Hodge and Hesson taking over as head coach in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Kumble’s appointment makes it five coaches in five seasons for the team.
The results, however, didn’t have any great impact on the results. The team finished at the bottom of the eight-team table in 2015 and 2016, and then ended at fifth, seventh and sixth in the last three seasons. After the inaugural season in 2008, the only time Punjab made it to the top four was in 2014.
Anil Kumble already has experience of coaching Indian men’s team between 2016 and 2017. He was also a mentor of Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians before taking up the job with Indian team. He stepped down from the position of head coach of Indian cricket team after the 2017 Champions Trophy, calling his relationship with captain Virat Kohli “untenable”. He was also a player for the Bangalore team in the initial days of IPL. The legendary Indian cricketer was one of the members on the inaugural Euro T20 Slam’s advisory committee. But the league was eventually cancelled two weeks before its scheduled start in August because of financial issues.