Virender Sehwag has announced that his time with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) has come to an end. The former Indian opening batsman joined the franchise in 2014 as a player before joining the backroom staff after announcing his retirement from the game in 2015.
“All good things must come to an end and I’ve had a wonderful time at Kings 11 Punjab, for 2 seasons as a player and 3 as a mentor. My association with Kings 11 comes to an end and I am thankful for the time I have had here and wish the team all the very best for the times ahead,” he wrote on Twitter.
All good things must come to an end and I've had a wonderful time at Kings 11 Punjab, for 2 seasons as a player and 3 as a mentor. My association with Kings 11 comes to an end and I am thankful for the time I have had here and wish the team all the very best for the times ahead.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) November 3, 2018
Sehwag played 25 T20 matches for KXIP in which he scored 554 runs, including a ton in the 2014 IPL Qualifier 2 game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) that helped his team to reach the final for the first time. He then continued his association with KXIP as a team mentor in 2016 before taking over as director of cricket operations for the franchise in the following year.
KXIP finished eighth in the ninth edition of the IPL while they nearly made it to the playoff stage in the subsequent edition, only to lose their last game to finish fifth. In 2018, KXIP looked well placed to make it through to the playoffs, having won five out of seven matches in the first half of the season. However, they managed a solitary win in their next seven games to finish at the seventh position.
