Kings XI coach denies Aussie de-listings

Kings XI Punjab coach Sanjay Bangar has refuted reports overseas players might be sent back home now that the team’s chances of making the playoffs are all but over.

According to a report in the Mumbai Mirror, Punjab are seriously considering ways of cutting down their expenses, with the team now all but out of reckoning for a place in the final four.

With just two wins from their nine games, Punjab are the bottom of the points table and even if they win all their remaining five matches they will need a miracle to qualify for the play-offs.

The report states the franchise could reduce their wages bill significantly were they opt to send some, or all, of their international signings home.

Kings XI Punjab have seven overseas players in their squad, including captain George Bailey. Bailey’s fellow Australians Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh and Mitchell Johnson, South Africa’s middle-order batsman David Miller and quick bowler Beuran Hendricks and Sri Lankan allrounder Thisara Perera are the others.

All barring Miller were bought at the IPL auctions over the years while Miller was retained for an undisclosed price by the franchise.

The report’s claim that Miller was retained at a price of Rs.12.5 crore (AUD$2.5 million) would mean these players cost the franchise a sum of Rs.33.85 crore (AUD$6.77 million) and if all were released, they could end up saving approximately Rs.5 crore (AUD$1million).

Coach Bangar insisted there were no such plans in place.

"There is no plan to send back the foreign players. The information is incorrect," he told the newspaper.

Maxwell is scheduled to play for Yorkshire in the NatWest T20 Blast at the end of the IPL while Bailey will turn out for Sussex in the same competition as a replacement for Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene.

Johnson will join his Australian teammates for their two-match Test tour of the West Indies.