KL Rahul Set To Be Named Kings XI Punjab Captain: Report

After letting Ravichandran Ashwin join Delhi Capitals during the trade window, Kings XI Punjab will have to name a new captain for the upcoming season. The former Chennai Super Kings led the franchise in the last couple of seasons without enjoying 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. They will now be looking to put up a good performance in the forthcoming season.

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A new captain:

According to reports, Kings XI Punjab could name KL Rahul as their new captain. 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.

He is now all set to be rewarded for his consistency with the captaincy armband, according to Sportstar. The former Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore has never led a team in IPL. The news outlet further stated that a final call on captaincy will be taken only after the auction in Kolkata on December 19.

Kings XI Punjab, meanwhile, have released their long-serving batsman David Miller, Sam Curran and Andrew Tye ahead of the auction. Miller went on to become one of the batting mainstays for Kings XI Punjab in his eight seasons with the franchise. Curran and Tye also made their mark for the franchise.  Along with these three, the franchise also released Varun Chakravarthy, Simran Singh, Moises Henriques and Agnivesh Ayachi.