IPL 2018: Virender Sehwag reveals Kings XI Punjab's player-retention plans
Mumbai: While Kings XI Punjab had their share highs in the ten editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Preity Zinta-co-owned side never managed to win the tournament despite coming tantalisingly close at least twice since the first season of the tournament.
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It was not that they did not have the players to get the job done but KXIP, till IPL 10, failed to emerge triumphant. And hence, as the big IPL auction is around the corner, KXIP will like to set the ball rolling as the teams are set to announce the list of the player(s) they would like to retain ahead of the auction on Thursday in Mumbai.
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While KXIP retaining players won’t create as a big buzz as a side like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) or Mumbai Indians (MI) or Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) would do, but the pre-auction retention could be KXIP’s chance to set the tone for the things to come.
Read: Indian Premier League 2018: Which cricketers teams could retain before big auction?
Discussing KXIP’s pre-auction player retention plan, team director Virender Sehwag said that the side has plans to retain a player and then use Right to Match (RTM) cards during the auction, which is scheduled to take place on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru.
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"We are planning to retain one player and use our Right To Match (RTM) cards for players who have done well for us like Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Hashim Amla, Sandeep Sharma or Mohit Sharma. We are planning to use all our RTM cards. We would like to pick new talent. We have done it in the past with Sandeep Sharma or Axar Patel,” Sehwag told Sportskeeda.
Earlier, team co-owner Ness Wadia had stated that KXIP have assigned the role of rebuilding the team to Sehwag, head coach Brad Hodge and his team.
