KP Bhaskar reinstated as Delhi coach; Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma named bowling coach

New Delhi: KP Bhaskar was on Thursday reinstated as coach of the senior Delhi team after a gap of one year while Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma was named as the bowling coach for the 2019-20 domestic season. The 56-year-old Bhaskar was Delhi’s coach during the 2017-18 season when they lost to Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy final at Indore. [caption id=“attachment_4309905” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representative photo. Getty Images[/caption] However, a public bust-up with Gautam Gambhir during a domestic tournament in Odisha led to his ouster after the former India star had accused him of promoting factionalism in the dressing room while trying to end careers of a few young players. Mithun Manhas replaced Bhaskar during the 2018-19 season where the team didn’t particularly do well. Back in his playing days, Bhaskar was a domestic heavyweight for Delhi, scoring 5443 runs in 95 first-class games with 18 hundreds. He was a part of the Delhi team that won the Ranji Trophy in the 1988-89 season and also played the final against Bengal next year (1989-90). Sharma, a Dronacharya awardee, is best known for being India captain Kohli’s first and only personal coach till date. He has played 9 first-class and 3 List A games for Delhi between 1986 to 1991. Under 54-year-old Sharma, the Delhi junior team had won the CK Nayudu (U-23) Trophy in the 2017-18 season and players like Hiten Dalal made the senior grade. When he wasn’t given a senior team assignment last year, he took up a short term assignment with the Malta national team for an ICC qualifying tournament.