IPL: RCB sack Kirsten, Nehra; Katich named as head coach
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have undergone a revamp of their support staff just three months after the 2019 edition. RCB have sacked their existing coaching staff, comprising of Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra. Meanwhile, they have been replaced by Simon Katich as the head coach, while Mike Hesson joins the franchise as the director of cricket. Here's more.
Considering RCB's performance in the past three years, it has been woeful. On two occasions in the past three seasons, RCB finished at the bottom of the table. Meanwhile, both Kirsten and Nehra were appointed the batting and bowling coach, respectively, following the 2018 season. While they finished sixth in 2018, they endured an even poor performance, finishing at the bottom in 2019.
"RCB's purpose is to be the most trusted, respected and best performing T20 franchise and hence our constant endeavor is to create a culture of excellence and high performance for every member of the team," said RCB chairman Sanjeev Churiwala.
Meanwhile, speaking of the current staff, Churiwala hailed the experiences of Hesson and Katich, and backed them to bring the winning culture to the team. He also asserted that they would soon consider moving to the one coach model. "As a result of this restructuring exercise, we will be moving to a single coach model," opined Churiwala.
Focusing on Katich's performance as a coach, he has had a fruitful experience so far, as he won two consecutive Caribbean Premier League (CPL) titles with Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR). However, the parent group of TKR, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), let go of Katich as their assistant coach this year after the team failed to make it to the final even once under him.
Meanwhile, RCB said in a statement that Hesson would be the point-person of the franchise and would be in charge of all cricket-related activities. He would also be closely working with Katich and skipper Virat Kohli on all issues related to the team.
This was a long-time coming for RCB, as the author already had prior reservations against Kirsten as a proper T20 coach. However, he expresses his delight at the appointment of Hesson and Katich and is confident that RCB would now be strong contenders in the coming days. However, he also feels that Kohli would need to step-up as the captain of the side.
