Kings XI Punjab co-owner Ness Wadia on Monday said the franchise decided not to trade Ravichandran Ashwin with the Delhi Capitals following a “rethink” by the Board.
It has been learnt that the newly-appointed head coach Anil Kumble was also keen to retain Ashwin, who captained the side in the previous two editions.
“The (KXIP) Board had a rethink and it realised that Ashwin is an integral part of the team. There were discussions with Delhi Capitals but those discussions never came to fruition.
The way he plays his cricket and his performances speak for him,” Wadia said.
Under Ashwin’s leadership, KXIP showed a lot of promise in the first half of the past two seasons before losing momentum in the second half. They finished seventh in 2018 and sixth in 2019.
KXIP reached the semifinals in the inaugural IPL edition before making the play-offs just once in 2014 when they finished runners-up. Now with Kumble on board, the franchise is aiming to end its title drought.