Former cricketer of the Australian national team, Brett Lee is of the opinion that the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Kings XI Punjab are in the right hands with Anil Kumble as their head coach for the 13th edition of the mega tournament. The speedster presented his views on Star Sports show Cricket Connected.
The IPL has migrated to UAE this year and is slated to commence on September 19, with the finale scheduled for November 10.
Anil Kumble will mentor the Punjab team in this year’s IPL, replacing Mike Hesson who stepped down from the post to join the team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). KXIP contracted Kumble for a two-year deal in 2019.
“Having someone like that (Anil Kumble) in terms of the mix of the team and certainly the squad will be invaluable. The knowledge, the experiences, will definitely help,” Brett Lee said.
The former Indian skipper and spinning legend has got an impeccable record when it comes to coaching. Under his guidance, the Indian team could make it to the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017. It was under his mentoring that team India rose in terms of Test rankings. As of IPL, Kumble has coached two of the strongest contenders of the tournament, Mumbai Indians (MI) and RCB. MI won the title twice during his time with the team, in 2013 and 2015.
Rooting for his former IPL team, Lee said, “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 and say that was a lot of fun to play for that franchise,” he added.
Brett Lee had started off his IPL journey with KXIP and proved to be an indispensable player for the team. However, the franchise team couldn’t make it into the top in terms of overall performance. He was later contracted by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and continued to play for the team for three consecutive seasons. Out of the three editions for which he was a part of the team, KKR lifted the trophy once, which was in 2012.
