MUMBAI: IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab has announced the appointment of Adam Gilchrist as the Captain-cum-Coach for the fifth season scheduled to start on 4 April.

Gilchrist will bear the additional responsibility in his new role of mentoring as well as leading the team, both on and off the field.

Kings XI Punjab COO Col Arvinder Singh said, ?Adam is a natural leader involved in all aspects of running a successful campaign in the IPL. Hence, this is only a natural progression of his increased role within the franchisee. Appointing him as a coach-captain gives us an added advantage as he shall also be fully involved in all cricketing activities of the franchise outside of the IPL Season and hence have a major role in shaping the future of Kings XI Punjab team in the years to come."

Gilchrist will be assisted by assistant coach Vikram Rathore, physiotherapist Patrick Farhart, fielding coach Mike Young and bowling coach Joseph Henry Dawes.

MUMBAI: As part of its engagement with fans for the upcoming IPL season, Kings XI Punjab has tied up with Indraprastha All India Sports Foundation for its talent search based reality ?Cricket Champs".

The show that aims at providing a platform for budding cricketers to showcase their talent in front of millions of viewers will be aired by UTV Bindass.

Since the reality show is being powered by Kings XI Punjab, a number of players from the franchisee shall also form part of the proceedings. These players would render their view points on player selection, ability, tasks, game strategy, etc.
 
Speaking on the initiative, KXIP COO Col. Arvinder Singh said, ?Kings XI Punjab has always been at the forefront of unearthing fresh cricketing talent. Our association with the venture aims to provide these young guns with a platform to perform. I wish the participants all the very best and am sanguine that we should be able to spot ?real talent? whom we shall help groom for their future cricketing endeavors.?

A total of eight teams from Bihar/Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore/Hyderabad, and Haryana comprising 15 players each will participate in the show.

The fate of these players will later rest in the hands of the public/viewers, who can choose their favourite captain out of the three for each team through national voting.

The team which emerges as the winner would be awarded with the National Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1 million. Besides, top 10 cricketers would get a chance to get training with Kings XI Punjab players and an opportunity to play first class cricket.

MUMBAI: IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab has announced that wicket-keeper-cum-batsman Dinesh Karthik has been traded with Mumbai Indians for the coming IPL season in 2012. 

Kings XI Punjab COO Col. Arvinder Singh said, ?Dinesh was an integral part of KXIP last year and displayed an exemplary performance. However, we feel that his talent as a wicket-keeper cannot be harnessed here as we already have a specialist wicket-keeper in our able captain, Adam Gilchrist".

Kings XI Punjab had acquired Dinesh at $900,000 during the auction in 2011 and have traded him with Mumbai Indians for a sum of $2.35 million. "We are also pleased to welcome Rajgopal Satish in to our team and are sanguine that he shall beef up our middle order in the coming season," the IPL team said.