Former South Africa batsman Gary Kirsten is likely to make a return to the Indian Premier League, this time as the batting coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 11th season in April, ESPNCricinfo reported on Wednesday.
Kirsten was previously involved in the IPL as the batting coach of Delhi Daredevils during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Despite signing a three-year contract at the time, the former India and South Africa coach was removed after Delhi could only manage seventh- and eighth-place finishes in successive seasons.
Kirsten recently made his debut in Australia’s franchise-based Big Bash League as the head coach of Hobart Hurricanes. At RCB, Kirsten will be working alongside head coach Daniel Vettori, and will also reunite with Virat Kohli, who made his debut for India under the South African’s watch.
The IPL auctions will be held on January 27 and 28 in Bengaluru and a franchise can retain five players. Captain Kohli, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and South African batting maestro AB de Villiers are frontrunners to extend their tenures with the three-time IPL finalists. RCB finished at the bottom of the table last season, having earned just three wins from their 14 round-robin games.
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