CRICKET
Kumble sacked as Punjab Kings coach
Former Indian cricket team legend Anil Kumble has been released as the coach of Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League.
The Punjab team decided not to renew the contract with Kumble as head coach.
This was expected as Kumble’s performance as coach was quite disappointing.
In IPL 2022, Punjab Kings had won seven out of 14 matches.
This team had missed out on a place in the playoffs by finishing sixth in the season’s points list.
The decision to part with Kumble was made by the board members.
The board includes Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, industrialists Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia and Karan Paul and team CEO Satish Menon.
As per reports, the board is not happy with captain Mayank Agarwal too.
Mayank Agarwal was put in command of the team after KL Rahul left the team to join Lucknow Super Giants.
However, his performance also fell short of expectations.
Mayank was only able to score 196 runs for Punjab in IPL 2022.
During this period, he averaged 16.33 and had a success rate of 122.5.
In such a scenario, it is quite likely that the Punjab Kings team will be looking for a new captain.
Punjab Kings finished in the bottom half of the IPL points table in each of the three seasons Kumble was coach, since 2020.
After his playing career, Kumble worked with three IPL teams, first as a mentor for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and then for Mumbai Indians.
Punjab Kings was his third team.
This was prior to him taking the position as head coach for India for a year in 2016.