Royal Challengers Bangalore replace Daniel Vettori with former South Africa batsman Gary Kirsten as head coach

Bengaluru: Former India coach Gary Kirsten on Thursday replaced Daniel Vettori as the coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), which failed to make it to the playoffs for the last two years. Kirsten, who had led India to World Cup win in 2011, was roped in as mentor and batting coach of RCB for the 11th edition of IPL this year. Vettori, on the other hand, has been associated with the team as a player and coach for the last eight years. [caption id=“attachment_5082221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Gary Kirsten. Reuters[/caption] “It has been a great eight-year journey with Daniel Vettori and we wish him the very best for all future endeavours. We are very happy to have Gary Kirsten take on the mantle of coach and mentor for RCB,” Team Chairman Sanjeev Churiwala said in Bengaluru. Vettori, who was handed a contract by RCB in the fourth season, said: “I am extremely grateful for the eight years I have spent with RCB, as a player and a coach and I wish the franchise all the best moving forward.” The club didn’t specify why their association ended with Vettori, who served as head coach from 2014 to 2018. However, it has to be noted that RCB failed to click as a unit in the last two years, despite having a power-packed batting line-up which includes AB de villiers and Virat Kohli among others. They finished at the sixth place in this year, while ending at the bottom of the table last year. RCB, who had reached the play-offs in 2015 and ended runners-up at 2016 edition, also had a disastrous outing in 2014 when they finished at the seventh spot. Besides coaching the Indian team, Kirsten has for the past 10 years coached at the highest levels. He had coached South African cricket team for two years, head coach in T20 for three seasons and one season at Hobart Hurricanes before joining RCB last season. He brings to the team a wealth of experience having played close to 700 games, scoring close to 40,000 runs across all formats. During the last IPL season, Gary has proved to be a brilliant mentor to both seasoned and young RCB players, Churiwala said. “We are confident he would bring a fresh perspective to the team,” he added. Kirsten said he thoroughly enjoyed his coaching experience with RCB last season under Vettori. “I look forward to continuing the journey with RCB and doing my best to help the franchise reach its potential,” he said.