Anil Kumble named head coach of Kings XI Punjab
New Delhi: Former India skipper Anil Kumble has been appointed as the head coach of Kings XI Punjab for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). According to ESPNcricinfo, Kumble has been put in charge of "all cricket-related affairs" of the team and will be making a presentation to the team management regarding his plans on October 19.
KXIP co-owner Mohit Burman said Kumble will also take a call on Ravichandran Ashwin's future with the team on the same day. Ashwin, who captained the side in the past two seasons, is expected to be traded to Delhi Capitals ahead of the next season.
Kumble, who had a brief stint with the Indian men's team as head coach between 2016 and 2017, is currently the only Indian coach in the IPL. For the 48-year-old, Kings XI will be the third IPL team that he will be involved with, having featured as a player and later captain with Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008.
He had also joined Mumbai Indians in 2013 as a mentor before quitting in 2015. He then joined the Indian team as the chief coach but it ended acrimoniously in 2017 after his relationship with skipper Virat Kohli became "untenable".
Kumble is the fifth coach to join the Punjab franchise in the last five editions.
Earlier, Sanjay Bangar (2014-2016), Virender Sehwag (2017), Brad Hodge (2018) and Mike Hesson (2019) had served as head coach of the team, which finishing at the bottom in 2015 and 2016, before signing off at fifth, seventh and sixth in the last three seasons.
Kings XI had reached the semifinals in 2008 and finished second-best after losing in the final to Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2014 edition.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
