The former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra and the former South African opener Gary Kirsten, who has also coached the Indian cricket team in the past, have reportedly been approached by the new IPL franchise based in Lucknow to head their coaching staff ahead of the mega auction of the IPL.
It has been reported by Cricbuzz that Nehra and Kirsten have been offered jobs by Sanjeev Goenka owned RPSG group who are the current owners of the Lucknow franchise which has not been given its team name so far.
Both Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten have had prior experience of coaching in the IPL as they were part of the coaching staff of RCB before the 2020 season of the IPL. While Kirsten was the head coach there, Nehra was the bowling coach.
Ashish Nehra has played a lot of modern-day T20 cricket and knows the dynamics of the game well
Nehra is someone who knows modern-day T20 cricket well because he has not just played in the IPL, he has also played for India in T20 World Cups and has bowled the tough overs wherever he has played. He knows how the dynamics of modern-day T20s work.
And as far as Gary Kirsten is concerned, he has created his own legacy as a coach by winning the ODI World Cup while working in the Indian cricket team’s set up with MS Dhoni as captain in 2011, a campaign which Ashish Nehra was a part of as well.
The Lucknow franchise owner Sanjeev Goenka has, however, not reacted yet on these reports, but after buying the ownership rights of the franchise, he had said that building a good team would be his primary motive before anything else.
With Kirsten and Nehra at the helm, if indeed the reports are true, Lucknow will look to build a strong culture to start with. Both these men haven’t just got a wealth of experience and knowledge, they are also calm individuals and are probably the right kind of coaches to lay a strong base for a new franchise.
