IPL 2018: Brad Hodge has faith in his star-studded Kings XI Punjab squad

Brad talked about how he is enjoying working with Virender Sehwag in the Kings XI Punjab set up.

The Kings XI head coach believes the team can go all the way.

During the decade-old Indian Premier League, the Kings XI Punjab has been one of the biggest disappointments of the IPL. Apart from that outstanding season in 2014, where everything came together and clicked for them, it has been a team that has let people down(themselves more than anyone else). 

This year, though, the team is hoping to start afresh and turn their fortunes around as the new chapter in the league's history awaits. They have built their team around the shrewd cricketing brains of Virender Sehwag as the Director of Cricket and Brad Hodge as the Head Coach. It was these two whose opinion was most sought after at the auction and in appointing the analytical Ravichandran Ashwin as the Captain. 

Kings XI has got a fine squad by the looks of it and has some fantastic cricketing stars in it. Talking about these superstars, their head coach Brad Hodge has come out and reiterated faith that he has in them. 

He quoted as per PTI, "The side boasts of some extremely dangerous cricket players and all are match winners on their own" 

You can understand where Hodge is coming as apart from their captain Ravichandran Ashwin, who boasts of a terrific record in the IPL, they have the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Karun Nair, Axar Patel, Lokesh Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, Andrew Tye, Aron Finch. Its a formidable looking unit of paper. 

Brad also talked about missing the services of Aron Finch for the first game owing to personal reasons and also shed light on KL Rahul's dual job for the season which includes wicket-keeping too. He said losing Finch for the tournament starter is "a huge loss". And that KL Rahul "has been working extremely hard and he is excited about this competition,"
 

Brad also talked about how he is enjoying a good relationship with Virender Sehwag in the Kings XI Punjab and how he likes Viru's clarity in communication. He also pointed out that players have the freedom to talk to them about anything they want. He stated, "We certainly complement each other...if there is any question, doubt or thought in any of the players' mind, then there is easy access to both of us. We both have a very similar thought process, the way we should play the game, the way we should attack the game and the partnership has been working. To work with someone like Viru is simply outstanding."

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 08 Apr, 2018

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