Former India’s left arm bowler Ashish Nehra is set to become the head coach of Ahmedabad Franchise.
The 2022 edition of IPL is going to be a 10 team affair with the addition of two new teams-Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
Sanjiv Goenka bought the rights for the Lucknow franchise for INR 7090 crore while CVC Capitals bought the rights for Ahmedabad franchise for INR 5625 crore.
According to some reports by PTI, Ashish Nehra is the frontrunner to become the Head Coach of the Ahmedabad based franchise. Former England opener Vikram Solanki is likely to become the Director of Cricket and the batting coach of the franchise. World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten is all set to become the mentor of the team.
A senior IPL source told PTI, “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.”
The Ahmedabad based franchise is set to receive the Letter of Intent (LOI) from BCCI. Therefore, they can start recruiting staffs once their participation is confirmed.
“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 added.
Ashish Nehra and Gary Kirsten have shared the dressing room earlier when Kirsten was the coach of the Indian team. Nehra was part of the ODI squad at that time.
The two also have worked together in the past in Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Meanwhile, Lucknow franchise have made appointed former Zimbabwe Cricketer Andy Flower as the head coach of the team. Gautam Gambhir is the mentor of the team.