Former India opener turned cricket analyst, Aakash Chopra, believes Kings XI Punjab could greatly improve its fortunes for the next Indian Premier League (IPL) season by resigning Windies T20 talisman Chris Gayle and dropping pace bowler Sheldon Cottrell.
Kings XI finished a disappointing 6th place in the final IPL standings, after missing out on a spot in the playoffs. A good portion of the team’s season had, however, focused on a five-game winning streak, which had put them in unlikely contention for the final four after a 1-7 start.
The man at the centre of the winning streak, Gayle, had spent the early days of the competition sitting on the bench, while Australian Glenn Maxwell, who had huge expectations placed on him heading into the season, continued to disappoint.
He wasn’t alone, however, as Gayle’s international teammate Cottrell also failed to live up to expectations after commanding a whopping INR 8.5 crore ($US1,156,239) at the auction. In the end, Cottrell ended the competition with six wickets in six matches at an economy rate of 8.80. Chopra believes, ahead of the next campaign, several changes should be considered
"Kings XI Punjab have a reasonable need of a mega auction because they need changes. They have to do something for the fast bowling unit because it will not work out with the ones they have," Chopra said in his review of the season.
"They should leave out Sheldon Cottrell, they should leave Hardus Viljoen also if they are not playing him, and they should leave Maxwell as well," Chopra added.
"They can keep Gayle if he wants to play although he is 41-years old. But the IPL is just a few months away and he was not expensive as well. So they can keep him as he is an X-factor and an intimidating factor," Chopra continued.
The pundit, however, believed the team would have to weigh its options more carefully if there is an IPL mega auction next year, in which case retaining Gayle may not be a good idea.