Kings XI Punjab Look The Real Deal
By Gaurang
April 28 2014
KXIP owner and cheerleader in chief Priety Zinta is in attendance at every game, and unlike many other glamorous owners, she actually seems to be quite knowledgeable about the game.
The case and point being when she gave all credits to the Coach and Management for the team selection this year and said they were better judges of cricket talent and she has left the scouting and auction bidding upto them. And the management team has produced results in spades. When they acquired Glenn Maxwell Coach Sanjay Bangar explained that they were looking for a leader, who was comfortable with both the star players and relative unknowns, and who could relate to veterans such as Virender Sehwag as well as youngsters.
So far the Kings XI are the only undefeated team in the league. In one match they chased down over 200 in another match they defended just about 130, so it shows that they are not a one-trick pony. Of course the biggest factor has been the absolutely stunning form of Glenn Maxwell who prior to his re-birth in the Kings XI uniform has scored less than 100 runs in total at average or 14 and strike rate barely over 100 in previous IPLs for Mumbai and Delhi.
But Sanjay Bangar did his homework and showed faith in the talent of Maxwell who has acknoweldeged that knowing that he would be an "everyday" player has been a big boost to his confidence and it shows in his performance.
And it is good to see an Indian head coach, and a humble and hardworking guy like Bangar in charge as Coach, instead of a foreign superstar. Speaking of which, Mumbai just announced they will bring in Ricky Ponting as batting consultant... with Wright, Kumble, Tendulkar, Robin Singh already on the bench giving advise to Rohit Sharma and his team. Why are they bringing in proven IPL failure Ricky Ponting as batting consultant? Oh well Tina Ambani is loaded so what's another paid hanger on?
There is a long way to go still but it seems like Bangar, Bailey and his boys are the real deal, and I for one am a believer and a new fan of the Punjab de puttars.
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:06:25:02:27:18 by Birbal.
And how did Mumbai do..? OK so they somehow managed to get to the semis...but with so many coaches and "consultants" the khichdi was definitely a bit overcooked in the Ambani outfit...