Former Australian Batsman Michael Bevan has been appointed as the new coach of Kings XI Punjab while his fellow countryman and former fast bowler Geoff Lawson has been appointed as the head coach of Kochi IPL team. Bevan replaces another Australian Tom Moody as the coach of the Kings XI team. Punjab finished at the bottom of the league last year and would hope a change of fortunes with the new coach. Kochi would hope that Lawson can provide them the required expertise and help them a mark in their first year itself at the Indian Premier League. Both the coaches are expected to be physically presented in the auction to be held in Bangalore on Saturday and Sunday.

Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh said that he believes that IPL T20 season 2 will be bigger than last year. He said that the Indian fan base in South Africa is huge and he expects that they will turn out in the games to support their teams. He also said that he expects that the Punjabi community in South Africa will also support his team Kings XI Punjab. Moreover there will be Indians and other people flying from India and other countries to South Africa to watch the matches. And the South African local cricket fans will also enjoy the matches.

Kings XI coach Tom Moody also echoed similar feelings and said that IPL 2 will be more competitive than the first season. He said that all the sides are very well balanced with quality players in each side and it is difficult to say anybody is better than the other. He believes that there will be a very tough competition in the IPL this year. He said that the South African public will see excellent cricket with the best cricketers worldwide. However, he also said that he personally feels that Delhi Daredevils is one of King XI’s biggest threats. The Daredevils have very good Indian players alongside powerful international players and he said that there would be a tough game when Kings XI Punjab faces Delhi Daredevils on April 18.

Hope that both their words turn out to be true and IPL season 2 becomes a huge success this year too.