Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia stated that the franchise has decided to stick with skipper KL Rahul and head coach Anil Kumble for at least three years and have designed a three-year strategy. In the past, KXIP have made a lot of changes to their side which in the end has not helped their cause at all.
Ness Wadia believes that KXIP had a decent IPL 2020 season given that they had a new team management and a new captain along with lot of fresh faces. KXIP missed out on the playoffs by a single win and thus Ness Wadia believes that the same group of players and coaching staff must be backed for a while at least. He has full faith that skipper KL Rahul is the right man to lead the team ahead despite question marks being raised on his captaincy.
“We have a charted a three-year strategy with Anil. We revamped this season and finished sixth and lost (the play-off spot) only by one game. “KL (Rahul) has been with us for three years and there was a reason why we went after him so aggressively. He has proved us right,” Ness Wadia told PTI.
“It is tough for the top order when your middle order is not performing. The good thing is that we have an established core now (Rahul, Agarwal, Pooran, Gayle and Shami) and we need to plug the gaps which are quite apparent (middle-order and death bowling),” he further added.
Chris Gayle should play every game next season: Ness Wadia
KXIP were unable to find a settled playing XI for the first few games that led to them losing 6 out of their first 7 matches. However, the moment Chris Gayle came into the playing XI, he completely changed the balance of the side and scored 288 runs in 7 matches, providing an ideal foil for skipper KL Rahul to play his natural game. Thus Ness Wadia believes that Gayle must continue to be a regular feature in KL Rahul’s playing XI in the IPL 2021 season.
“The team management did what it thought was best for the team. It is important to back experienced players and Gayle has demonstrated that he should play every game next season,” Ness Wadia said
