Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower is appointed as the head coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following the exit of Mike Hesson and Sanjay Bangar after an underwhelming IPL 2023 season.
Andy Flower has been one of the popular coaches around the world at various franchise-based tournaments. The Zimbabwe cricketer took on coaching positions in other T20 leagues throughout the world and experienced success.
Under his coaching, the teams have secured titles for Multan Sultans (2021) and Gulf Giants (2022) in the PSL and ILT20 (2023).
Under Hesson, Bangar, RCB secured a place in the playoffs three times in a row just before the 2023 season, but the wait for the elusive trophy continued.
The fate of other coaches Adam Griffith, Sridharan Sriram, and Malolan Rangarajan is still unknown, as the franchise will also look to have some continuation in the support staff going into the next season of the cash-rich league.
We are beyond thrilled to welcome ??? ???? ?? ????? and ??? ????? ??? winning coach ???? ?????? as the ???? ????? of RCB Men’s team. ??
Andy’s experience of coaching IPL & T20 teams around the world, and leading his teams to titles… pic.twitter.com/WsMYGCkcYT
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) August 4, 2023
Flower can be a handy addition to the Royal Challengers Bangalore setup, as he has the experience of guiding teams to elusive titles in franchise leagues. There is also a potential involvement of the franchise stalwart Ab de Villiers in the coaching setup as he can be a mentor in the team for the next season of the cash-rich league.
Ab de Villiers played for RCB from 2011 to 2018 and became one of the most celebrated players in the league. With his incredible batting skills and ability to change the game in a matter of overs and he can pass on his knowledge to the youngsters in the team.
The Zimbabwe veteran also has the experience of coaching the IPL team in his brief career. The 55-year-old brought a lot of experience to the table when he joined the Lucknow Super Giants as their head coach in 2022. His recent success includes leading Lucknow Super Giants to the playoffs of the IPL 2023.
In International Cricket also, he worked with England as head coach for 5 years. Under him, England won T20 World Cup in 2010, and also England reached to No. 1 Test ranking. Also, England won the Ashes 2010-11 in Australia under his coaching.