IPL 2024: SRH appoint James Franklin as their bowling coach
Sunrisers Hyderabad have appointed former New Zealand all-rounder James Franklin as their new bowling coach for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024 campaign. As per ESPNcricinfo, Franklin has replaced Dale Steyn, who had to pull out due to personal reasons. Notably, this will be Franklin's maiden coaching stint at the IPL. Earlier, he played for Mumbai Indians in 2011 and 2012. Here's more.
Franklin has worked closely with head coach Daniel Vettori
Franklin will join forces with Daniel Vettori, who was earlier appointed as head coach by the franchise. The Kiwi pair previously worked together at Middlesex (County) and Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred. Franklin has served as a coach at Durham and is currently an assistant coach at Islamabad United in the ongoing Pakistan Super League.
Steyn joined SRH in 2022
Steyn joined SRH as bowling coach in 2022. He helped in the progress of rookie pacer Umran Malik, who went on to play international cricket for India. Umran recently earned a fast bowler contract from the BCCI.
Franklin will work closely with many talented bowlers
SRH have a decent bowling attack this season with Pat Cummins, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Jaydev Unadkat and Akash Singh. Meanwhile, the spin contingent consists of Wanindu Hasaranga, Shahbaz Ahmed and Washington Sundar. Franklin will work closely with the talented bunch and will hope to churn out their best performances this season.
SRH had a dismal IPL 2023 campaign
Nothing went right for SRH in the last campaign as they won only four out of 14 matches in IPl 2023. In the last three campaigns, they have failed to qualify. In this period, their bowling has been a major point of scrutiny. Last season, none of the SRH bowlers managed to scalp 20-plus wickets. Bhuvneshwar was the highest with 16 scalps.
Daniel Vettori faces stern test as SRH head coach
SRH finished eighth in 2022 and slid further down to 10th last season in the IPL. One of the major concerns for the franchise has been the constant change in leadership. Tom Moody was last year replaced by Brian Lara, who was earlier shown the door after only a single season. Therefore, Vettori will have to work his magic as SRH's new head coach.
