IPL 2014: George Bailey named Kings XI Punjab captain

Australian skipper George Bailey has been announced as Kings XI Punjab’s captain for IPL 2014

Australia’s T20 captain George Bailey will lead the Kings XI Punjab in this season’s IPL.

Bailey will become the second Australian to lead Kings XI after Adam Gilchrist, who led this team for the last two years. Bailey has been a successful leader for Australia in T20 format and Kings XI will be hoping for a good show from Bailey in the IPL this season.

Bailey has the experience of playing on sub-continent wickets. When the Australians toured India in the month of October last year, he was the highest run-scorer for them. He is also a good player of spin bowling which can hold him in good stead for Kings XI.

He was purchased by Kings XI for 3.25 crore in IPL auctions, a little more than Virender Sehwag whose tag price was 3.2 crore. Other Australians purchased by the franchise are Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh.

Kings XI coach Sanjay Bangar stated that Bailey was the only nominee considered by his franchise owners. The important factor which went in Bailey’s favour was his leadership quality.

“He was the unanimous choice. He has got success as a leader in the domestic tournaments like Sheffield Shield in Australia,” Bangar said. “He had also lead Australia in the Twenty20 format. And then the overall type of character he is, who can understand a range of players from the bigger names to ones that have limited ability. We are confident he has the ability to bring out the best from everyone.”

Bailey has already played IPL for Chennai Super Kings from 2009 season till 2012. Since the Super Kings had many all-rounders, Bailey was able to take part only in three matches and managed to score only 63 runs.

Bailey has a good record as Australia’s T20 captain. He captained them in 24 matches and registered 13 victories.

“We required a player with past leadership experience. The second and crucial aspect was to have a player who was guaranteed a place in the team for all matches,” Bangar said, adding the other elements that were taken into account before picking Bailey as the captain.

Sanjay Bangar also said that Bailey would make use of the experience of Virender Sehwag’s leadership skills, but he confirmed that Bailey will be the on-field captain. “Within that group we would definitely like to utilise the experience of senior guys like Viru, who are bound to perform the role of mentors. But on the field Bailey will be the captain.”