IPL 2018: Kings XI Punjab announce their support staff

The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is almost only a month away now as the teams are gearing up for the contest. Even the franchises are busy appointing their respective captains for the upcoming season of the tournament. Recently, Kings XI Punjab appointed Ravi Ashwin as the skipper of the team and will work closely with their mentor Virender Sehwag. However, the franchise has also announced their coaching support staff now and are leaving no stone unturned in their preparation ahead of the season.

Punjab overhauled their squad completely in the IPL auction in January as they had retained only Axar Patel during the player retention event. They bagged some big international stars like Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, Andrew Tye and KL Rahul during the auction. The team looks set to make a stark improvement in their performances this year and it will be interesting to see the way the new captain leads them.

Venkatesh Prasad appointed bowling coach

The former Indian cricketer Venkatesh Prasad has been appointed as the bowling coach of Kings XI Punjab only a couple of days after his resignation as the chief of the junior national selection panel. The franchise released a statement in which they welcomed the veteran. “Venkatesh Prasad, former right-arm medium-fast bowler and ex-chairman of the junior national selection committee (BCCI) comes on board as the team’s bowling coach,” the statement read.

Also, Brad Hodge was signed as the head coach of the team for the next three seasons and will surely look forward to turn around the fortunes of the team in the T20 extravaganza. “The team we’ve managed to get together is absolutely phenomenal. Each member of our coaching staff brings bundles of experience and insight that will help us reach the perfection we strive for here at Kings XI. It’s a truly exciting prospect,” delighted Hodge was quoted as saying by mid-day.

Delhi cricketer Mithun Manhas will work as the assistant coach in the upcoming season of IPL. Shyamal Vallabhjee and Nishanta Bordoloi will be with the squad as technical coach and fielding coach respectively during the course of the tournament and joining them is Nishant Thakur as the franchise’s strength and conditioning coach.

Virender Sehwag was happy after appointments of the support staff and hoped that Hodge and Prasad duo work for the benefits of the team. “We are glad to have a foreign coach join the team this year along with Venkatesh. I hope the team benefits hugely from their collective experiences,” he said.

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