Published: Jul 02, 2016, 09:46 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 02, 2016, 09:46 AM (IST)
The Tamil Nadu Premier League is set to add some foreign flavor to their edition with the inclusion of former South Africa bowler Lance Klusener to Lyca Kovai Kings as their chief coach. Klusener has represented South Africa in 49 Tests and 171 ODIs so far. He was the assistant coach of Zimbabwe until last month when India toured the side recently. Klusener will be visiting the city as this team represents Coimbatore. He will unveil the logo of the of the franchise. Earlier, Lyca had signed in former Tamil Nadu player C Hemanth Kumar and current state cricketer R Prasanna as part of their coaching staff. ALSO READ: Lance Klusener feels ‘privileged’ to have coached Sachin Tendulkar
Chief Operating Officer, Raju Mahalingam of Lyca spoke to Times of India on Friday and said, “Yes, we have finalised Klusener as our coach for this season. We have signed him for a period of three years. All the terms and conditions have been agreed upon and the final formalities are being worked out at the moment.We plan to have a big launch in August, and Klusener could come for that.”
Mahalingam further added, “Klusener is a cricketer of international repute and has not only been a great player, but has been part of the coaching staff of franchises such as Mumbai Indians. He will definitely bring in a lot of experience to our team. The presence of Hemanth and Prasanna is also very crucial since they know the local talent, and their inputs too will be invaluable.” ALSO READ: Makhaya Ntini alleges Cricket South Africa turning blind eye towards Zimbabwe
Former Tamil Nadu and Railways off spinner R Venkatesh will be in-charge of the cricket operations of the TNPL. A source close to the development said, “Venkatesh has played the game for the state, and has also been involved in the administrative activities of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) over the years, and he fitted the bill perfectly. We got a lot of applications and after carefully scrutinizing them. We zeroed in on Venkatesh.”
Venkatest who has represented Tamil Nadu for 20 matches has 69 wickets to his name include 7-wicket haul. The source further added, “While Venkatesh will be the GM (General Manager) for Cricket Operations, we have appointed Akshay Srikanth will be GM for Marketing Services. Akshay is a capable individual who donned the role of marketing manager with Big FM earlier.” Last month, PS Raman was named the chairman of the league, while S Raghavan was being picked as the vice-chairman. Prasanna Kannan, in May, was named the CEO.
