IPL 2020: Kings XI Punjab appoints Anil Kumble as the new head coach

Anil Kumble has been appointed as 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.

Kings XI and coaches

The co-owner of the franchise, Mohit Burman has shared the news with ESPNcricinfo. According to his information, the legendary spinner would make a presentation to the team management on October 19. The idea is to share his plans for upcoming seasons for the team. On the same day, Ravichandran Ashwin‘s fate in the KXIP will also be decided.

The team always had big names in the role of the head coach 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. Sehwag was their mentor before taking up a more responsible role. Kumble’s appointment makes it five coaches in five seasons for the team.

The results, however, didn’t change anything for KXIP in last few years. 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. In 2008 they reached the semi-final and in 2014 they reach final only to be defeated by Kolkata Knight Riders.

Kumble & coaching

Anil Kumble already has enough experience of coaching a cricket team. He worked with the Indian men’s team between 2016 and 2017. He stepped down from the position of head coach of Indian cricket team after the 2017 Champions Trophy, calling his relationship with Virat Kohli “untenable”.

He had few interesting stints in IPL as well. He was a mentor of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians before taking up the job with the Indian team. He played for the Bangalore team in the initial days of IPL also. Anil Kumble 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.

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