Former Delhi Daredevils and India coach, Gary Kirsten is likely to coach the new Indian Premier League team Rajkot, one of the two franchises replacing Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. The Intex-owned franchise are in talks with the former South African left-handed batsman for a coaching role as per reports.
Rajkot, who has an ownership for two years is keen to include the veteran Proteas into their dugout as he had experience of working with the likes of Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja during his tenure with the Indian team. He was the coach of team India when it saw the rise in world cricket as India climbed to the top of the ICC Test rankings as well as became champions in the ICC World Cup 2011.
Kirsten was snubbed by Delhi Daredevils few days back as the team went through couple of awful seasons. However his international record as a coach is amazing. After India, South Africa also grabbed the No.1 spot in Tests. They have won everywhere in the world under Kirsten’s mentorship.
Sources also said that players who were picked at the time of the draft were informed that Kirsten would be the coach for the team. The five players picked for team Rajkot during the draft were Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, James Faulkner and Dwayne Bravo.
The other newly appointed franchise, Sanjiv Goenka’s Pune is likely to retain the Dhoni-Fleming partnership. The duo has a good record at the IPL for Chennai Super Kings. Pune picked MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Ravichandran Ashwin and Faf du Plessis in the draft.
