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Like the other seven teams, KXIP players are undergoing a six-day mandatory quarantine in the UAE.
The squad is heavy on players from Karnataka including the captain himself, Mayank Agarwal, and Karun Nair. The head coach too is from Karnataka.
“To have someone like Anil Bhai around helps me immensely this season. I share a very good relationship with him off the field, coming from the same state,” Rahul told the IPL website.
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Rahul was in red hot form in the past two seasons while battling alongside Chris Gayle, scoring 659 and 593 and in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Glenn Maxwell’s return has boosted their middle-order and the skipper stressed his importance to the team.
“Maxi has been with Kings XI before and has had a successful run with the team. He was one player we were very clear we needed going into the auctions.
“On a given day, he will take down any bowling attack and we’ve felt that the last couple of seasons we have missed that impact player in the middle order,” said Rahul.
In Rahul and Gayle, KXIP makes one of the most destructive opening pairings in IPL. The captain expects the West Indian to keep winning games for the team.
“I have played for several years with him and share a great friendship with him. He”s a great guy to have in our team. He will be part of our core group and with the kind of experience he has, he will definitely be somebody that wins a lot of games for us,” he said.
“Looking forward to the 2020 season, it”s not like a usual IPL season, it is going to be very different for all of us. I am excited about that. I hope we can make this season count and win a lot of games for the team,” he added.
KXIP are yet to win the IPL with its best finish coming in 2014 when they reached the final.