Some of the members of the support staff of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team have been sacked except those who are having the blessings of skipper Virat Kohli. Ashish Nehra, who had joined the RCB last year as bowling mentor, will remain untouched for the time being.
As per the reports of Bangalore Mirror, the head coach Daniel Vettori, batting, and fielding coach Trent Woodhill and bowling coach Andrew McDonald have been sacked by the Diageo management, which owns the RCB franchise. There is change even in the administrative set-up, with Sanjeev Churiwala replacing the previous boss Amrit Thomas, for an entirely different reason.
The new support staff is expected to be announced in a week’s time but the report suggests that the amendments have been done after Kohli’s recommendations. As of yesterday, the expected person to take over the reins is Gary Kirsten, who had famously coached India to the 2011 World Cup triumph.
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All these unexpected changes have reportedly been made because of the performance of the side in the last two seasons of the IPL. Despite having match-winners like Virat and AB de Villiers in the squad, RCB could manage only six wins in 14 league matches finishing at the sixth position.
For a team with such a powerful line-up, it was a below par performance — and the changes were not surprising. They ended the league with 12 points from 14 games, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
Dreaded conflict of interest clause
However, there are different theories over the replacements as one of the speculations suggests that the first preference for the head coach is India’s batting coach Sanjay Bangar. But if Bangar were to join RCB, he would be in danger of attracting the dreaded conflict of interest clause. The changes in the coaching staff are not happening only in RCB as the KXIP head coach Brad Hodge has also been ask to vacate the position.
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There might be more changes in the Punjab team but only after the board meeting of the franchise. Meanwhile, in the Rajasthan Royals team, the news is that Shane Warne will take over as their full-time head coach as earlier he was with the side as mentor but not for the entire season.
On the other hand, Ricky Ponting’s future with Delhi Daredevils seems in danger but a team promoter told this paper that the former Australia skipper will stay on. He had signed a two-year contract with the franchise but DD had finished at the bottom of the table in IPL 2018.
