Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have roped in former England wicketkeeper-batsman James Foster as their fielding coach for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League (IPL). He will replace former Assam cricketer Subhadeep Ghosh, who had joined the franchise before IPL 2019.
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A veteran of 289 first-class matches, Foster played seven Tests, 11 ODIs and five T20Is from 2001 to 2009. His Test debut against India in 2001 in Mohali. Interestingly, his last multi-day game also came against India as he was a part of Essex team that played visitors before the five-match Test series in 2018. He retired from competitive cricket in 2018 and took up coaching assignments afterwards.
? ANNOUNCEMENT❗
? Welcome aboard, James Foster!! ?♂⚡
The former ??????? keeper has been named #KKR's fielding coach for #IPL2020 ?#KKR #KorboLorboJeetbo #Cricket @JamesFoster07 pic.twitter.com/IPiwK6yg3S
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) February 10, 2020
Foster has been associated with Glamorgan and Khulna Tigers so far. This will be the first time that he will be coaching an IPL franchise. Foster will join a revamped coaching staff headed by Brendon McCullum, who replaced Jaques Kallis as head coach.
David Hussey and Kyle Mills are the other two key members of the backroom staff. The franchise decided against changing its captain and Dinesh Karthik is set to lead KKR for the third time.
The two-time champions are seeking a third title win since 2014. They have had mixed results in past few seasons. Since their last title win, KKR have made it to playoffs thrice while they have crashed out from the league stage on two occasions. The franchise will hope to come good in the upcoming edition.
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At the auction, KKR made the biggest purchase of the day by roping in Pat Cummins for a hefty price of Rs 15.50 Crore to make him the biggest overseas gainer in the history. Apart from him, the franchise also bought Eoin Morgan (Rs 5.25 Crore), Rahul Tripathi (Rs 60 Lakh), Varun Chakravarthy (Rs 4 Crore), M Siddarth (Rs 20 Lakh), Chris Green (Rs 20 Lakh), Tom Banton (Rs 1 Crore), Pravin Tambe (Rs 20 Lakh) and Nikhil Naik (Rs 20 Lakh).
KKR are yet to name Dinesh Karthik’s deputy for the upcoming season.