IPL 2020: Kings XI Punjab Appoint KL Rahul As Their Captain

Kings XI Punjab have named their star opener KL Rahul as the captain for the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). KL Rahul replaced Ravichandran Ashwin as the captain of the team. Before the auction, Ashwin had moved to Delhi Capitals during the trade window. Ashwin had led the team in the last two seasons without much success as Kings XI Punjab failed to make it to the playoffs on both the occasions.

Kings XI Punjab have not progressed ahead of the league stage since their stunning run to the final in 2014. Since that promising season, the Punjab-based outfit has only finished in the bottom half of the points table. Under Ashwin’s captaincy, they did show promise but lacked consistency. The onus will be now on KL Rahul to deliver the goods as captain after impressing as batsman.

“We felt that it was the right time for him to take the leadership role,” announced head coach Anil Kumble after the auction.

KL Rahul has been with the franchise from the last two years and has been their best performer. In both the seasons, he finished as the top run-scorer for the team while showing remarkable consistency at the top of the batting order. In the last two seasons, he has scored 659 and 593 runs respectively with the help of 12 fifties and one century.

Rahul is also in fine form at the moment and recently scored a match-winning century against West Indies in the Vizag ODI. Prior to that, he had played knocks of 62 and 91 in the three-match T20I series against the same opposition.

New signings:

Kings XI Punjab, meanwhile, have roped in a number of new faces in the recently-concluded auction. The highlight of the new faces was Australian star Glenn Maxwell as the Kings XI Punjab spent a staggering amount of INR 10.75 crore to secure his services. They also bought the likes of Sheldon Cottrell, Deepak Hooda, James Neesham and Chris Jordan.