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Kings XI Punjab name Glenn Maxwell captain for 2017 season

Saturday 11 March 2017

Glenn Maxwell has been the preferred captain for Kings XI Punjab

©IANS

Kings XI Punjab continued with their preference for overseas captain as they have named Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell to lead the side for the 2017 edition of Indian Premier League.

The 28-year-old will take over the reins from India's Murali Vijay, who replaced David Miller in the middle of the previous season where they lost five out of the first six games.

Even though the team showed some improvement in form under Vijay, they eventually ended last in the table with four wins from 14 games, prompting the owners to turn to Maxwell.

Maxwell himself had a dreadful 2016 season where he scored just 179 runs from 11 matches and was dropped for three games as well. The decision to make him as captain comes despite the squad having Eoin Morgan and two World T20 winning West Indies skipper Darren Sammy.

The franchise suffered another blow as their new recruit and New Zealand opening batsman Martin Guptill has been sidelined with injury for the first half of the tournament, though he is expected to remain with the squad.

Kings XI Punjab will kick-start their 2017 season with a clash against Rising Pune Supergiants at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on 8th April.