Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) is desperate to end their wait to win their first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy. While their last two times captain Ravichandran Ashwin has already been traded, the team management is in serious talks about the next captain of the side for the new season. According to the recent report of Sportstar, KL Rahul is likely to be the next KXIP captain, who was in great forms in the last two IPL seasons.
Apart from 2008 (semi-finalists) and 2014 (runners-up), KXIP have failed to finish in the top four positions in all other IPL tournaments. Hoping for the better results, they chose the veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the leadership role for the last two IPL seasons. Ashwin-led KXIP finished in the seventh and sixth positions in 2018 and 2019 seasons respectively.
Ahead of the upcoming auction, KXIP have already made some crucial changes in the support staff, including the head coach as Anil Kumble has joined in this position.
Though initially, KXIP was not considering releasing Ravichandran Ashwin, finally, they decided to trade him to Delhi Capitals (DC). Now, the KXIP team management also needs to choose the captain for the IPL 2020.
KL Rahul was the leading run-scorer for KXIP in the last two IPL seasons
From 2018 season, KL Rahul is serving in KXIP as a wicketkeeper and opening batsman. In these two seasons, KL Rahul has evolved as the top-class and consistent batsman. In IPL 2018, Rahul finished as the third leading run-scorer after scoring 659 runs in 14 matches (average 54.91). The right-handed batsman was the second most run-scorer in the IPL 2019 where he scored 593 runs in 14 games (average 53.90). However, in both those seasons, he was the leading run-scorer for his team.
Observing these consistent performances, the team management is thinking to choose KL Rahul as the next captain, according to the recent report of Sportstar. However, they will make the final decision about it only after the players’ auction, which is going to be held on 19th December in Kolkata.
Before the player’s auction, KXIP have released (excluding trading) seven players from the last season. The franchise can add a maximum of nine players (including a maximum of four overseas players) and they can spend a maximum of INR 42.70 crore.
Sportstar has also confirmed that PCA Stadium will remain to continue to host all the home matches of KXIP in IPL 2020.