Anil Kumble’s presence in Kings XI Punjab will be invaluable: Brett Lee

Brett Lee, the former Australian cricketer, reckons that Anil Kumble can do wonders in the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) camp. Last year, Kumble was roped in as KXIP’s head coach after Mike Hesson left the franchise to join as Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Director of Cricket.

Kumble hasn’t played the role of a head coach in the IPL, but he has worked as a mentor with the RCB and the Mumbai Indians (MI). Kumble will take charge of the Punjab franchise from the 13th edition of the tournament, scheduled to get underway on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The knowledge, the experiences, will definitely help: Brett Lee

Lee, who played for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and KXIP during his IPL stint, said that Kumble’s presence will be important for Punjab. “Having someone like that (Kumble) in terms of the mix of the team and certainly the squad will be invaluable,” Lee was quoted as saying on Star Sports.

“The knowledge, the experiences, will definitely help. Kings XI need to win, they have got a great squad, they have got a wonderful team that can definitely get close and close but they have not got over the line yet, so, I’m actually waiting for that to happen. A great franchise to play for, I put up my hand-up and say that was a lot of fun to play for that franchise,” he added.

KXIP is one of the teams, who are yet to get their hands on the coveted trophy. In the last two seasons, under Ravi Ashwin’s leadership, they started the tournament with a string of victories. However, they failed to qualify for the playoffs on both instances.

Ashwin was also traded to the Delhi Capitals (DC) even as KXIP appointed KL Rahul as their skipper. Ahead of the upcoming season, Punjab can take heart from the fact that last time when the IPL took part in the UAE, though partially, they qualified for the final, losing to KKR.

It now remains to be seen how KXIP performs under Rahul as their captain. Over the years, they have had some quality players in their ranks, but they haven’t quite been able to make optimum utilisation of their resources.