Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have made two big appointments for the next season of Indian Premier League (IPL) as the two-time champions have again roped in Trevor Bayliss as the chief coach, a report in TOI suggests. Apart from him, the franchise has also roped in Brendon McCullum, former New Zealand captain who made his debut for the franchise in the inaugural edition.
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KKR had confirmed the departure of Jacques Kallis from the coaching staff a few days back. Since then, there were expectations that Bayliss will be making a comeback to KKR coaching staff and the present England coach is set to rejoin the franchise.
Under him, England created history on Sunday at Lord’s as they defeated New Zealand to become the world champions for the very first time. He took over the job after England’s poor run in 2015 World Cup.
England revamped their style of play in ODI format and won the championship on Sunday. Bayliss has already confirmed that he will not be renewing his contract as England coach and will leave the job after Ashes 2019, that starts on August 1.
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He was the at the helm from 2011 to 2014, during which KKR won IPL trophies twice. The team has not yet added another IPL trophy in the kitty. In fact, KKR haven’t played an IPL final since 2014.
McCullum, on the other hand, is set for a maiden stint as coach in IPL. He is still an active player but announced his retirement from Big Bash League early this year.
In IPL auction for the 12th season of the league, McCullum failed to attract a bid, that also marked an end to his IPL career. He had shown interest coaching and McCullum will don the coaching hat for the first time next year.
Apart from being an active cricketer, he has also started commentating and was also part of commentary team in IPL 2019. He will be taking over the coaching job from Simon Katich, Kallis’ assistant coach at KKR. He (Katich) also worked at Trinbago Knight Riders in Caribbean Premier League.
Kallis and Katich might now look to coach another team in IPL and news regarding them with associated with another team in days to come should not come as a surprise.