Punjabiyat the Theme

10 March, 2010 |

The arrival of the mercurial Kings XI Punjab skipper Sangakarra heralded Kings XI Punjab's CEO Anil Srivatsa's welcome address to the team in an informal setting at a Chandigarh hotel. He elaborated on the theme the Chandigarh franchise play by and what it takes to be a Kings XI player - a Punjabi spirit.

Anil insisted the Kings XI punjab team had a different aura to it and it wasn’t just a collection of people domiciled in Punjab. "Being Punjabi in spirit does not mean you have to be born one. It's based on your values, and we can all choose to be that" he said.

Srivatsa stressed that this team’s motto was not just to play a certain number of league matches trying to pull off the best. It was founded on immense belief as the players ran, batted and bowled themselves ragged. The people of Punjab and the neighbouring states had the qualities of courage, liveliness and hospitality. To fight keeping these in mind is what the Lions are meant to do.

Marketing Head Chandrabhan made some points about how the team management would support the players. "Many of us here are in this room because we identify with the system in some way," he remarked.

The cricketers were asked if they had any questions or would like to contribute anything. Most of younger ones were in awe of the occasion and merely nodded their agreement.

Taking the podium again to conclude the meeting, Anil said the Kings XI punjab franchise had believed and invested in its players, and would therefore try to retain them in the various IPL seasons to follow. Right now, they represented in total the aspirations of the people of Punjab, Kashmir, Jammu, Himachal and Haryana.

Mahela Jayewardene, Brett Lee, Kumara Sangakarra, Ravi Bopara, Ifran Pathan, Piyush Chawla, Yusuf Abdulla and Sreeshant among others seemed impressed with the proceedings, where the hall witnessed regular applause.

Full strength KXIP, barring one or two players, seem even more energized and with a positive body language. "Gladiators, go," seemed to be the theme as the star gathering dispersed for dinner where they were joined by Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj Singh and co-owner Preity Zinta.