Gary Kirsten appointed new Royal Challengers Bangalore coach in the IPL

Former India coach Gary Kirsten was on Thursday appointed as the new coach and mentor of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. He replaces Daniel Vettori who served in the role since 2014.

Kirsten, who led India to their World Cup glory on home soil in 2011 was roped in as the batting coach and mentor of RCB in the last edition. He had however been appointed in the new role after Vettori, who had been with the team both as a player and a coach for the last eight years was relieved from his role.

“It has been a great eight-year journey with Daniel Vettori and we wish him the very best for all future endeavours. We are very happy to have Gary Kirsten take on the mantle of coach and mentor for RCB,” franchise Chairman Sanjeev Churiwala was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

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The former New Zealand captain joined RCB in 2011 as one of their overseas players and was given the head coaches’ role in 2014.

“I am extremely grateful for the eight years I have spent with RCB, as a player and a coach and I wish the franchise all the best moving forward,” said the 39-year-old.

Under him, the franchise reached the IPL finals in 2016 losing to Sunriseres Hyderabad and also made it to the playoffs in 2015. The last two seasons, however, have been disastrous for them as they not only failed to make it to the final-four stage but also finished second last in a disastrous campaign in 2016. They finished fifth last season.

Meanwhile, Gary comes with tons of coaching experiences under his belt. Not just did he coach the Indian national cricket team to a World Cup victory in 2011 but also was the coach of the South Africa team which reached the semi-finals in 2015.

During the last IPL season, Gary has proved to be a brilliant mentor to both seasoned and young RCB players, said Churiwala as reported by the news agency.

“We are confident he would bring a fresh perspective to the team,” he added.

Kistern said, “I look forward to continuing the journey with RCB and doing my best to help the franchise reach its potential.”