Simon Katich, the Royal Challengers Bangalore head coach, has resigned for personal reasons. Earlier this year, he led the RCB in the first leg of the IPL.
After that, the franchise’s director of cricket operations, Mike Hesson, will take over.
“Simon Katich has decided to stand down mainly owing to personal reasons,” said RCB vice-president and head Rajesh Menon on Saturday. Management fully supports his choice. We appreciate him for his work at RCB and wish him continued success. Mike Hesson will serve as interim head coach until the end of the tournament, following the franchise’s business continuity strategy.
With a few New Zealand and Australian players on national duty or opting out, RCB have signed Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera from Sri Lanka.
The 24-year-old Hasaranga is one of the ICC’s top-ranked T20 bowlers. Chameera, 29, will offer pace to Virat Kohli’s team.
🔊 ANNOUNCEMENT 🔊@CoachHesson takes over as head coach for the remainder of #IPL2021 after Simon Katich made himself unavailable due to personal reasons. #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/MQ8ErjqMZI
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) August 21, 2021
“We’re pleased to welcome Hasaranga in place of Adam Zampa. He provides balance in wrist spin and batting ability. Chameera is also bowling well. “He has true pace and his white-ball game has improved,” Hesson said.
“Some substantial alterations in our playing squad,” Hesson said of the team adjustments. RCB will be without Finn Allen and Scott Kuggeleijn on their New Zealand tours. Kane Richardson and Daniel Sams have both withdrawn. So our squad’s composition has shifted substantially. So, we started shopping for replacement windows 4-5 days ago.”
In place of Allen, Tim David, a Singaporean, joins the squad. Tim David, a power batsman who could replace (Glenn) Maxwell or AB de Villiers. It provides us choices, and he’s recently performed in the subcontinent,” Hesson noted.
The RCB squad and support staff arrived in Bengaluru on Saturday for a seven-day quarantine.
“The team will fly out on August 29th. Our six-day strict quarantine and BCCI testing regimen will begin as we land in the UAE,” Menon added.