Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey hails Virender Sehwag as a leader

George Bailey

Australia’s T20 captain George Bailey has emerged as one of the best player in the shorter formats of the games currently.

After he spent 3 seasons in the Chennai Super King squads, Bailey was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs 3.25 crore at this year’s IPL auction.

Bailey has also been named the captain of the Kings XI Punjab side, although there was Virender Sehwag in contention.

“Given the amount of experience Sehwag has, he’ll be a leader of the side regardless of whether he is captain or not. The young players will definitely go to him and seek his guidance,” he said.

Virender Sehwag has been out of form for a long time and had a very moderate domestic season. But George Bailey is confident regarding his Talismanic batsman’s performance.

He said: “His (Sehwag’s) record speaks for itself. Bowlers are still afraid of his ability and I expect a big performance in the tournament from him.”

Bailey is an experience captain but this would be a whole new experience for him. “The challenge for me will be leading a bunch of new players – some of the guys who I’ll meet for the first time when the team gets together. I need to learn about the ability of the new guys fast and figure out how they can be best utilized,” said Bailey.

When asked about Mitchell Johnson’s fitness: “I haven’t spoke to Mitch for a while but the last I heard was that he was improving and should be fully fit by the time IPL comes around. As everyone has seen, Mitch has been bowling really fast recently and he is one of biggest game-changers. He has the ability to wreck a side by picking a lot of wickets in a short span of time.”

George Bailey has plenty of match-winners at his disposal which includes David Miller, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Johnson. The last of those three is struggling with a toe infection which has now spread to his leg.