It was a pleasure to have a virtual chat with Satish Menon, the CEO of Punjab Kings on Sunday.
My very first and obvious question to him was about the name change from Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings, to which he said it was all a part of the rebranding exercise. Among other things, we also discussed the mood of the team after some of the players tested positive for COVID-19 during IPL 2021 in May before it was disrupted due to the pandemic and how Punjab looked after their players in the bio bubble.
Satish said it is crucial to ensure the players’ health and that is the first priority, along with that of all the Kings’ staff. He said the team is very positive of the team’s performance and believes Punjab Kings will qualify for the play-offs.
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Talking about the players, Satish lauded Harpreet Brar’s performance in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore where he single-handedly got the wickets of Virat Kohli, Glen Maxwell and AB De Villiers and won the match single-handedly. He is confident of Ravi Bishnoi and calls him the future leg spinner for Team India. On a lighter note, we talked about prankster Mohammed Shami and, of course, the ‘Universal Boss’ himself Chris Gayle, who is going to be with them for a while longer, and the chemistry between Mayank Agarwal and captain KL Rahul, who has led the team from the front.
Menon also touched on the two Australian fast bowlers, Riley Meredith and Jhye Richardson, who made their debut for Punjab this year and how they have got better with every game. Geat news now the Australians have been given clearance to play in the rest of this year’s IPL.
He finished off by saying how the backroom staff plays a crucial in the team and that he looks forward to continuing the remainder of the IPL tournament in UAE.
Game on!
