IPL 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore appoint Simon Katich as Head Coach, Mike Hesson named Director of Cricket Operations
Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore have appointed former Australian batsman and Kolkata Knight Riders coach Simon Katich as their new head coach for the next IPL season. Meanwhile, ex-Kiwi coach Mike Hesson was appointed as the Director of Cricket Operations.
While Simon Katich was at the helm of the Kolkata Knight Riders until a few weeks ago, Mike Hesson was Kings XI Punjab's coach last season. Hesson stepped down from the post only on August 9th in order to apply for national teams which were looking for a new coach. However, Hesson was pipped by Ravi Shastri to become India's head coach yet again while he also missed out on taking on the same role for Bangladesh.
"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.
"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.
RCB also parted ways with Gary Kirsten and bowling coach Ashish Nehra after a season which saw the team underperform yet again. The hugely popular Virat Kohli-led side only managed to muster up 11 points and end at the bottom of the points table.
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