IPL 2022: Ex-PBKS assistant coach frontrunner to become coach of Lucknow franchise- Report

Former Zimbabwe skipper and IPL franchise Punjab Kings’s assistant coach for the 2020 and 2021 editions, Andy Flower has reportedly emerged as the front runner to become the head coach of the newly inducted Lucknow-based franchise. Flower stepped down from his role in PBKS, in the early days of December and is expected to join the Sanjiv Goenka-owned franchise. Meanwhile, former PBKS skipper KL Rahul is also expected to move to the Lucknow franchise ahead of the IPL 2022. 

A team official from the Lucknow franchise spoke to PTI regarding the speculations over the head coach’s appointment, and said, “We have been hearing a lot of names. Only today someone wrote that Gary Kirsten is also becoming the coach. We are in talks with a few, but unless someone signs for us, we cannot confirm”. The former Zimbabwe skipper joined the Punjab-based franchise ahead of the IPL 2020 and worked for the last two seasons alongside legendary cricketer and PBKS head coach Anil Kumble.

Lucknow franchise on lookout for Daniel Vettori & Ashish Nehra among other coaching options

Flower also guided England to their maiden ICC T20 World Cup title in 2010 and also helped them reach the no.1 spot in the Test rankings. He also works in the Caribbean Premier League(CPL) for the PBKS owned franchise Saint Lucia Kings. The report by PTI also suggests that alongside, Gary Kristen and Andy Flower, former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori and former India speedster Ashish Nehra is also being linked with the Lucknow-based IPL franchise. The franchise was bought by the Goenka-led RP-SG Group for a whopping amount of INR 7090 crore and will join the tournament from the 2022 season onwards with the new Ahemdabad based franchise. 

Following the IPL 2022 Retentions last month, both the new IPL teams are required to submit the name of three players who they would want to retain, ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Many prominent cricketers like KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya and others find themselves in the auction pool and are expected to get exciting bids in the auction. Meanwhile, the IPL 2022 mega auction is likely to take place in the first week of January while the tournament is expected to start in April.

(Image: iplt20.com/BCCI)