Former Australian batsman Simon Katich has been appointed as the new Head Coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). While Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra have been removed as batting and bowling coach respectively ahead of the IPL 2020.
RCB has also roped in New Zealander Mike Hesson as director of cricket operations. Change is support staff have been made after RCB finishing on the bottom of the points table in the last two seasons.
Simon Katich was the assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders from 2015 to 2019, Brendon McCullum replaces him earlier this month. Mike Hesson was the Kings XI Punjab head coach for the 2019 season, who quits KXIP as he had applied for the job of India coach, which eventually Ravi Shastri retained.
“RCB’s purpose is to be the most trusted, respected and best performing T20 Franchise and hence our constant endeavour is to create a culture of excellence and high performance for every member of the team. To deliver this ambition we are very happy to announce the appointment of Mike Hesson and Simon Katich. We believe that Mike’s extensive experience in building strong teams along with Simon’s powerful cricket experience will help us create a winning culture,” said Sanjeev Churiwala, Chairman of Royal Challengers Bangalore in a release.
“As a result of this restructuring exercise, we will be moving to a single coach model. Consequently, we would like to thank Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra for their contribution over the past two seasons. They leave us with a legacy of having given several young players the confidence to show their ability on the highest stage. Everyone at Royal Challengers Bangalore wishes them all the best in the future,” he added.
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