Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) is one of those three teams who are yet to win a IPL championship having participated since the inaugural edition in the year 2008. All of a sudden, the franchise has come up a lot of changes to their back room staff ahead of the IPL 2019 season. It all started with the appointment of a new coach in place of Brad Hodge.
In the last week of October, KXIP signed Mike Hesson for the role of head coach for the upcoming IPL 2019 season. The former head coach of New Zealand is set to replace Brad Hodge at the franchise and is set to hold the top position for a period of two years.
Virender Sehwag then took to twitter on last Saturday (Nov 03) to announce that his time with Kings XI Punjab has come to an end. He was the mentor and Head of Cricket operations of the team for the last two seasons and was also their former captain. Check it out:
Nava Season ✅
Nava Coach ✅
Ek Navi Umang ✅————————————
New Season ✅
New Coach ✅
Renewed Passion ✅Welcoming @CoachHesson to the @lionsdenkxip#LivePunjabiPlayPunjabi #KXIP pic.twitter.com/57AmpqvRNR
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) October 29, 2018
All good things must come to an end and I've had a wonderful time at Kings 11 Punjab, for 2 seasons as a player and 3 as a mentor. My association with Kings 11 comes to an end and I am thankful for the time I have had here and wish the team all the very best for the times ahead.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) November 3, 2018
“All good things must come to an end and I’ve had a wonderful time at Kings 11 Punjab, for 2 seasons as a player and 3 as a mentor. My association with Kings 11 comes to an end and I am thankful for the time I have had here and wish the team all the very best for the times ahead,” said Sehwag through his tweet.
Viru represented KXIP as a player during the 2014 and 2015 IPL seasons while he mentored the team in the next year. In the year 2017, he was also appointed as director of cricket operations and he continued in the same opposition in the IPL 2018 as well.
In what comes as a latest development, KXIP also let go their fast bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad who served them for a season. Former Indian cricketer Sridharan Sriram is set to replace him at this post. Sriram was the assistant bowling coach for Delhi Daredevils (DD) and also the spin bowling coach for Australia.
KXIP has also roped in Prasanna Agoram – the Technical Strategy Analyst at Cricket South Africa – as their high-performance coach for the IPL 2019 edition. Agoram played his part in South Africa’s transition to becoming one of the toughest teams to beat in international cricket. Top players like Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and the pacer Dale Steyn have all credited Agoram for the Proteas’ successful run at the international arena.
In the IPL 2018 season, KXIP having won five out of seven matches in the first half of the season, looked almost certain to make it through to the playoffs stage. However, they managed to win just a game in their next seven games only to finish at the seventh spot (second from last) of the points table.
Keep reading ReadScoops.com for more updates from the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.
