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Punjab Kings sever ties with Anil Kumble after 3 years, to hunt for new coach: Report
Anil Kumble had been Punjab's head coach for three IPL seasons, having taken over in 2020.
Indian Premier League (IPL) side Punjab Kings (PBKS) have reportedly parted ways with head coach Anil Kumble, ending the former India captain's three-year association with the franchise. Kumble had joined PBKS in 2020 and was in charge for three seasons.
The decision to let Kumble go was taken by a board comprising multiple owners, including Bollywood actor Preity Zinta, industrialists Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia and Karan Paul and Kings' chief executive officer Satish Menon, according to ESPNCricinfo. The franchise is also expected to announce a new head coach soon.
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In the time that Kumble was head coach, PBKS finished in the lower half of the IPL table. They finished fifth in 2020 and 2021, when the league comprised of eight teams. They then finished sixth in the 10-team tournament in 2022.
Kumble had earlier worked as a mentor with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians after ending his illustrious playing career. He then went on to become the head coach of the Indian team for a year in 2016. At the time of appointment, Kumble was PBKS's fifth coach in five seasons after Sanjay Bangar (2014-16), Virender Sehwag (2017), Brad Hodge (2018) and Mike Hesson (2019).
Punjab Kings also had a change of captains during Kumble's tenure, with KL Rahul leaving for Lucknow Super Giants and Mayank Agarwal replacing him last season. Agarwal's performance with the bat saw a significant dip last year, leading to speculation that he may be replaced as captain this year but PBKS said that no official statement has been put out on the subject.
“News reports published by a certain sports News website pertaining to captaincy of the Punjab Kings franchise have been making the rounds in the last few days. We would like to state that no official of the team has issued any statement on the same,” said the franchise.
