Former South Africa opener Gary Kirsten is quite excited to work with Hardik Pandya. He spoke at length about his role as the Ahmedabad franchise made an official announcement about their pre-auction pickings.
On Friday, the Ahmedabad franchise announced that their three pre-auction pickings would be Hardik Pandya (15 Crores), Rashid Khan (15 crores), and Shubman Gill (8 crores). They also appointed Hardik Pandya as their skipper for the upcoming season. Earlier the CVC Capital-owned franchise also announced that Ashish Nehra will be their head coach while Gary Kirsten will join them as a team mentor and batting coach. Former England opener Vikram Solanki will take the duties of ‘Director of Cricket’ to oversee all the proceedings.
Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan & Shubman Gill are three pickings for Ahmedabad ahead of the auction
Speaking to Star Sports, Kirsten said that he’s very excited to work with Pandya as he understands this format well.
“I am looking forward to working with Hardik as a young and new captain. I think he will be really motivated to come in and make a plan and show what he is capable of at this level of the game as a leader,” Gary Kirsten said.
Notable that Hardik Pandya has been struggling with form so he lost his place in the Indian team but Kirsten believes that he will turn things around.
“He’s a great player. What I have heard is that he is really keen to get into the mix and get involved. I think he understands the importance of this tournament. What I have heard is that he is raring to go and get into the mix from a leadership perspective. So, I think that’s really exciting for us to have a player with such a level of skill, motivated to do well in this competition,” he added.
Kirsten previously worked with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Royal Challengers Bangalore. This time he will work as a mentor and batting coach alongside the head coach Ashish Nehra.
“My role, the designation is Team Mentor / Batting Coach, so I am going to have my hands full with handling a lot of work at ground level, but essentially, just to be assisting players in preparing them to be the best versions of themselves and the team that they are going to play,” said Kirsten.
“I love the coaching and I am really looking forward to the role. I have journeyed a lot through IPL, of four years. I’ve been involved in a lot of short-format matches and got a decent understanding of what a team needs to do, how you need to find that winning flow, which is a priority in IPL,” he added.
The IPL auction will be held on February 12 and 13 as the Ahmedabad franchise will go with the purse of 52 crores.
Also read “It’s Time To Look At Deepak Chahar In Place Of Bhuvneshwar Kumar”- Sunil Gavaskar
