Ashish Nehra set to be named as head coach of Ahmedabad franchise

January 4, 2022

Former India bowler Ashish Nehra is in line to be named as the head coach of the new IPL franchise based in Ahmedabad. The appointment is expected to be made official once the franchise receives the green light from the BCCI.

Apart from Nehra, the franchise have apparently finalized a couple of other coaching staff positions as well. Former India coach Gary Kirsten has been roped in as the mentor of the team. The Director of Cricket post will be taken up by former England batter Vikram Solanki.

“As far as I have heard, they have signed Ashish as their head coach and someone who would be in overall charge of the franchise. Solanki will be the ‘Director of Cricket’ and also expected to double up as batting coach and Kirsten will be in a mentorship role,” a senior IPL source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

The Ahmedabad franchise were touted to bring in the former India coaching staff panel of Ravi Shastri, R Sridhar, and Bharat Arun. However, the move did not materialize as Shastri was not prepared to return back in a coaching capacity.

Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten have been part of the same coaching staff before. The duo were part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore unit a few seasons back. The left-arm bowler has also played under Kirsten as a player when the latter was coaching the Indian national team.

“The Ahmedabad franchise can’t announce it formally as it is a BCCI diktat and they can only make a formal announcement after they get the LOI. The head honchos of Ahmedabad franchise has already interviewed the trio and short-listed them for the season,” the source said.

The Ahmedabad franchise will have the option of picking 3 players out of the pool of players that were released by other teams. The other new IPL franchise based in Lucknow have already appointed Andy Flower as their head coach with Gautam Gambhir assigned the role of team mentor.