Kings XI Punjab’s newly appointed Director of Cricket Operations Anil Kumble, on Wednesday, opened up about Ravichandran Ashwin’s future in the next season of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Kumble called the Indian off-spinner an asset for the team but also confirmed that it is not sure whether the 32-year-old will continue as skipper of the Punjab-outfit in IPL 2020.
Kumble, who took over KXIP’s head coach position last week, asserted that a decision on captaincy has not yet been taken, and Ashwin is not an automatic choice for the leadership role.
Ashwin led KXIP in the last two editions of IPL, where the franchise failed to qualify for the playoffs each time.
While addressing the media, Kumble said: “I think any decision on Ashwin or any other player is an internal matter of the team. Ash (Ashwin) is a fantastic asset to the team. We all know his contributions to the Indian team over that last so many years. He has been a brilliant player for India. But there is no certainty yet that he’ll be the captain this year. Moving forward, we still haven’t taken any decision on anyone for that matter. We need to sit down with the (Kings XI) board.”
“There are certain gaps that one needs to fill. We are certainly looking to add some experience to our middle-order. We have Chris Gayle, who is perhaps the most experienced international player in the T20 format,” the former India Test skipper added.
