Yuvraj Singh will be integral part of KXIP : Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin was on Monday named the captain of Kings XI Punjab for the upcoming Indian Premier League season 11 and promised to never be predictable.
Ashwin, who played with Chennai Super Kings from 2009 to 2015 and for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016 and 2017, was bought by KXIP for Rs 7.60 crore in the player auction in January.
Despite former captain Yuvraj Singh in the fold, team director Virender Sehwag and the management chose to go with Ashwin, keeping in mind the age factor.
Ashwin, who will captain Kings XI come April, would lead an IPL team for the first time and mentioned that his strengths lied in being “innovative and change things up.” He said Yuvraj will be his go-to man in the IPL and he will look to give Yuvraj much more freedom.
Ravichandran Ashwin To Lead Kings XI Punjab in Indian Premier League 2018
“For me, it is all about Yuvi paaji trying to go out there and entertain the fans. It is very important we play an aggressive brand of cricket. And as far as I’m concerned, I would love to see him play freely and hit those big shots. I’m looking to give him as many overs as possible. I think he will be one of the best batsmen in our team.”
Along with the bowling, Ashwin said he would want Yuvraj to bowl more overs and get some crucial wickets in the middle. Yuvraj bowled just two overs in 12 matches for Sunrisers Hyderabad but Ashwin wants Yuvraj to spread his “pie chucker” magic this season.
“More than anything else, I would love to see the pie chucker in Yuvi paaji. One of my strong points is to try and be innovative and try and change things up. And Yuvi paaji will be a very, very internal part of our team. He will be a very big lynchpin for me to try and go for sort of advice on the field.
“The pie chucker in him is somebody that I really like. Many great batsmen including the likes of Kevin Pietersen couldn’t play him properly. We can utilise that and get a few big wickets this time.”
Ashwin and Sehwag both agreed that all-rounders in Axar Patel and Marcus Stoinis will be integral to the team’s plans. However, Afghanistan’s mystery spinner Mujeeb Zadran is someone Ashwin is really keen to see up and close.
