Virender Sehwag hints Kings XI Punjab's retention strategy

With the Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Retention Event is scheduled to take place tomorrow (January 4) in Bangalore. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the franchisees. In the midst of all this, Director of Kings XI Punjab, Virender Sehwag has revealed that they will be retaining one player.

While there have been speculations that following a dismal show the franchise might not want to retain any player and look to rebuild the team. The former cricketer admitted that the management might go on to retain just one player. They will target other players with the Right To Match (RTM) cards to retain other valuable players in the squad.

Planning to retain one player

The Kings boast of top players like Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Hashim Amla, Axar Patel, etc. Hence it will be interesting to see which player are they going to retain. Going by the stakes, it’s highly likely that Maxwell is going to be the one. Kings XI probably don’t want to risk him in the auctions. Sehwag also mentioned that they’ll have their eyes on young talent. This is intriguing since last time around, Kings XI Punjab had retained Manan Vohra and Mandeep Singh.

“We are planning to retain one player and use our Right To Match (RTM) cards for players who have done well for us like Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Hashim Amla, Sandeep Sharma or Mohit Sharma. We are planning to use all our RTM cards. We would like to pick new talent. We have done it in the past with Sandeep Sharma or Axar Patel.”

We want to rebuild the whole franchise 

Recently, it was reported that the Kings XI Punjab had requested for fresh auctions. They have never been a team that has favoured retention and history is a proof of the same. Owner Ness Wadia admitted that they were up for another fresh start.

“We want to rebuild the whole franchise. It is up to Brad Hodge, Viru and his team to deliver,” Wadia added.

Past performances 

In the last season, Kings XI Punjab narrowly missed out on a playoffs spot. The likes of  Amla, Maxwell and even Shaun Marsh were amongst the runs for them. The Sharma duo of Sandeep and Mohit, as well as Axar Patel, also displayed great finesse in the bowling department.

KXIP have never won the IPL. The closest they came was during IPL 2014 final where they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in what was a nail-biting finish. This time around, they’ll be looking to change their fate.