IPL 2020: 3 players who KXIP see as a potential captain for the upcoming season

KXIP traded their captain for past two seasons, R Ashwin to DC.

The Kings XI Punjab franchise has been seeing a see-saw like fortunes in the last couple of seasons under the leadership of R Ashwin. They started well at the start of both IPL 2018 and IPL 2019, but couldn’t manage to continue the winning run and failed to qualify for the knockouts.

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They have only made it to playoffs two times- once in 2008 when Yuvraj Singh was captain and were the runners-up in 2014 edition under the leadership of George Bailey. Since then the franchise has gone through lots of captains including Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, and M Vijay before settling on R Ashwin.

But after two years and not getting desired results, he was traded to Delhi Capitals. KXIP will be in hunt of a new leader come the auction on December 19, 2019. Team COC, therefore, takes a look at three such players who KXIP see as potential captain for the upcoming IPL 2020 season.  

Here are 3 players who KXIP see as a potential captain for the upcoming season

EOIN MORGAN

England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan has played in IPL for the various franchises including KXIP at one point in time. He has been unlucky for not been given the long run in any of the teams he has played for. In 52 matches, he has made 854 runs with four half-centuries and the highest score of 66.

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However, with a World Cup under his belt and a brilliant record leading England in both white-ball formats, Morgan has established himself to be a great captain and something that KXIP direly needs. Given the fact that the franchise is very finicky with their captains and results, if picked by KXIP, Morgan will have his work cut short even before he begins.

AARON FINCH

Aaron Finch led the Australian team brilliantly in the limited-overs format. The Aussie captain had excused himself from the 2019 IPL to keep his focus on Test career, but with that dream being cut short due to nonperformance, Finch is back in auction for the upcoming season.

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He is a veteran of IPL having played for Delhi Daredevils, Gujarat Lions, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians, Pune Warriors, Rajasthan Royals, and Sunrisers Hyderabad. His last outing in IPL was for KXIP and in total, he has scored 1737 runs in 75 matches at a strike rate of 130.69 and 13 half-centuries. Finch has also led Melbourne Renegades to the BBL title last season and is expected to captain Australia in the 2020 T20 World Cup.

He has led teams in IPL as well and overall has shown great leadership skills and if KXIP buys him in the auction and gives him the chance to captain the franchise, he is bound to give them positive results, with some degree of control over selections.

KL RAHUL

The most natural option for KXIP to give captaincy for the upcoming season is their wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul. Rahul has been on fire with the bat, scoring 659 and 593 runs in the last two seasons for the franchise and overall has 1977 runs in 67 matches with one century and 16 fifties at a strike rate of 138.15.

Rahul also holds the record of the fastest half-century in the franchise in just 14 balls. He has been in good form for the Men in Blue as well with 1036 runs in 32 T20Is and 704 runs in 23 ODIs with 2 centuries each in both formats.

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His strike rate in T20Is is 145.91 and is coming off a brilliant Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament and the franchise looks at him as their most reliable batsman and hence retained him for the IPL 2020. However, he has achieved such heights for KXIP just being their opener-keeper and it remains to be seen whether the additional responsibility of captaincy affects his form.

But it can be said that KXIP has groomed him as their next captain and unless they go for any other player in the auction just for the captaincy purpose, Rahul may be their pick.