During the 2022 Indian Premier League season, former India fast bowler Ashish Nehra will be the head coach of the Ahmedabad IPL franchise, while former England opener Vikram Solanki is in line to become ‘Director of Cricket.’
Former India coach and World Cup winner Gary Kirsten will serve as the ‘Mentor’ for the franchise, which is expected to get its formal ‘Letter of Intent’ (LOI) later this month.
“As far as I know, they’ve hired Ashish as their head coach and franchise general manager.” “On condition of anonymity, a senior IPL source told PTI that Solanki will be the ‘Director of Cricket,’ and that he is also anticipated to act as batting coach, with Kirsten serving as a mentor.”
“The Ahmedabad franchise is unable to make a formal announcement due to a BCCI directive, and they will only be able to do so after they receive the LOI.” “The Ahmedabad franchise’s top brass have already interviewed the trio and have short-listed them for the season,” the source revealed.
Nehra previously worked as a coach with Royal Challengers Bangalore, where Kirsten also spent a few of seasons.
Since Nehra was a player and Kirsten was his national coach, the two have enjoyed a long and good working relationship.
Nehra gets along swimmingly with Solanki, who has previously worked as an IPL coach.
The franchise will select a few assistant coaches once BCCI has given it the green signal.
Nehra had not coached in two seasons since he had decided that he would only accept such an assignment if he fit the profile of a head coach who could make a difference in terms of squad composition and strategy.
Despite receiving many offers from various IPL organisations, it is believed that the former left-handed speedster prefers to take on the challenge of constructing a top squad from the ground up.