IPL: Punjab Kings parts ways with Anil Kumble after deciding against renewing contract

Indian spin legend Anil Kumble's term as the head coach of Punjab Kings (PBKS) concluded after the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise decided not to renew his contract. As per an ESPNcricinfo report, a board comprising multiple PBKS owners, including Bollywood actor Preity Zinta, along with industrialists Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and the team's CEO Satish Menon, decided to part ways with Kumble. The franchise is hunting for a new head coach, while an announcement for the same is expected to happen soon. Kumble, a former Indian skipper, was appointed as the PBKS head coach in 2020.

PBKS has since then finished in the lower half of the points table. It has made it to the IPL playoffs only on a couple of instances, with just a final appearance in 2014, during which it lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Kumble was in charge of the team in 42 games, succeeding 18 and yielding 22, while a couple of matches resulted in a tie.

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Kumble had previously functioned as Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) mentor before deciding to take over as the head coach of the Indian team in 2016. Meanwhile, the franchise also dismissed speculation that Mayank Agarwal is on the line to be replaced as the team skipper for IPL 2023.

"News reports published by a certain sports news website about the captaincy of the Punjab Kings franchise have been making the rounds in the last few days. We want to state that no official of the team has issued any statement on the same," confirmed PBKS in a statement.

(With inputs from PTI)