The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19 and one team will be extremely happy to play in the Middle East, given their amazing record the last time IPL happened in the desert nation - Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).

KXIP, in 2014, won all their five matches in UAE and went onto compete in the finals of the tournament, only to lose to Kolkata Knight Riders. They also have the highest score in UAE of 206/4 which came against CSK and Glenn Maxwell scored 300 runs in five matches played with the highest score of 95.

Former KXIP player Brett Lee feels that franchise will benefit massively from having someone like Anil Kumble in their ranks. Kumble, last year, had signed a two-year deal with KXIP as Director of cricket operations and head coach and will take charge of the team during the 13th edition of the IPL.

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"Having someone like that (Kumble) in terms of the mix of the team and certainly the squad will be invaluable," Lee said on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.  

"The knowledge, the experiences, will definitely help. Kings XI need to win, they have got a great squad, they have got a wonderful team that can definitely get close and close but they have not got over the line yet, so, I'm actually waiting for that to happen. A great franchise to play for, I put up my hand up and say that was a lot of fun to play for that franchise," he added.

This is Anil Kumble’s first job as a head coach of any IPL team, though he was part of the support staff with RCB and MI.

(IANS inputs)