Amidst the reports of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises making changes in their respective supporting staff, a report in The Mumbai Mirror has suggested that Brad Hodge, head coach of Preity Zinta co-owned Kings XI Punjab, has been asked to leave his position.
The news comes as a big surprise as the former Australian batsman was handed a contract for a period of three years but after just one year in service, he has been asked to leave.
Under the tutelage of Hodge, KXIP made a phenomenal start to the IPL 2018 season by winning five of their first seven games before a break of one week. The break turned out to be a nightmare for KXIP franchise as they just managed one win in the next seven games, which saw them crashing out of the tournament.
Hodge had earlier coached the Gujarat Lions in IPL (2016 and 2017) ahead of KXIP. He performed the role of head coach for a period of two years that the franchise participated in the league.
However, there is no news over Virender Sehwag, who has been associated with the team since 2014. He earlier played for the franchise before joining the backroom staff as Mentor and Director of cricket operations of the team.
During IPL 2018, a report in The Mumbai Mirror had suggested that there was a fallout between Sehwag and Preity Zinta.
“Against Rajasthan Royals, skipper Ravichandran Ashwin was sent in at number three, ahead of more accomplished batsmen such as Karun Nair and Manoj Tiwari. The move backfired as Ashwin fell for a duck, and Preity launched into Sehwag for the decision. However, when Preity continued to blame him, saying ‘unnecessary’ tinkering with the playing XI had led to a spate of defeats, Sehwag tried to reason with her,” a source was quoted as saying by the paper.
