News: Sangakkara replaces Yuvraj as Kings XI Punjab skipper

Home News Photos News Videos News Cartoons News Blogs RSS

Home > Sports and Entertainment > Sangakkara replaces Yuvraj as Kings XI Punjab skipper

Sangakkara replaces Yuvraj as Kings XI Punjab skipper

Kumar Sangakkara replaced Yuvraj Singh on Friday as the captain of the Indian Premier League team Kings XI Punjab.

Sunday, Jan 17, 2010 | 235 Views | Comments [View/Post]

The Sri Lankan skipper was tipped to take over the job weeks ago but the team management had so far kept mum on the matter. The side’s CEO Anil Srivatsa finally put an end to the speculation by announcing Sangakkara as the new skipper.

“Kumar Sangakkara is the new captain of Kings XI Punjab. We are hoping for good things to come out of it,” Srivatsa told reporters.

Asked why Yuvraj was removed from the post despite the team’s reasonably successful campaigns in the first two seasons of IPL, Srivatsa said being replaced as captain would not affect the left-hander’s stature and hoped it would instead help him to do better with the bat.

“Being taken off the leadership role does not diminish Yuvraj’s standing in the team. Yuvraj’s inputs are vital for us. He has done well for the team in the past two seasons and he has one more year with us. He did his job well enough as we reached semifinals in both the years. This has got nothing to do with all this. He is still what he is in the team,” he insisted.

Sangakkara echoed Srivatsa’s views and said he spoke to Yuvraj immediately after being told about the change of captaincy.

“I have enjoyed playing under Yuvraj, he is a very able captain. When everything was not concrete, I spoke to him and after that I decided that it was the right time to take up captaincy. I don’t think it would cause any problem. He is a very good friend. I had a long chat with him on this, everything was done very transparently. Moreover, Yuvraj is the most important player in our side. Any IPL team will be lucky to have him. He can change a match just like that. He is a match winner,” he said.

“In fact to have a nationwide talent hunt for quality domestic players was his idea and I am sure it will help us this season.”



Comment on this article
Guidelines: You must register with a social media account such as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, etc. to comment on this story. Click on the "Login" button below to choose your login account of choice. We welcome your thoughts, but this is not an open forum. For the sake of all readers, please refrain from the use of obscenities, personal attacks or racial slurs. All comments must remain on topic and cyber bullying will not be tolerated. All comments are subject to our terms of service. Comments that do not comply may be removed. Repeat offenders will lose commenting privileges.
News Other Language
World News
Movie News
Information
Travel News