Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kings XI Punjab have appointed former Australian pacer Ryan Harris as their bowling coach. The 39-year-old has replaced Venkatesh Prasad who had resigned recently from the position. The Punjab-based team also roped in former New Zealand batsman Craig McMillan as their fielding coach.
Team’s head coach Mike Hesson said that the inclusion of Harris and McMillan in the coaching team would prove to be an asset for them. “Having quality coaches like Harris and McMillan will be a great asset to the team. They have both performed as players on the big stage and have made the transition into quality coaches. They will be excellent additions to the coaching team,” Kings XI Punjab official website quoted Hesson, as saying.
The franchise, which finished at number 7 in the last edition of the IPL, made some other appointments in order to increase the strength of their support staff. While former Australian cricketer Brett Harrop has been appointed as the team physio, Sridharan Sriram and Prasanna Raman have been roped in as batting coach and high-performance coach, respectively.
The franchise had a poor season last year, in which they started off well, but ended up finishing at the 7th position in the table. After the tournament, coach Brad Hodge, who initially signed a two-year-deal was let go by the franchise and was replaced by the former New Zealand coach Hesson. Hodge was followed by Virender Sehwag, who resigned as the Mentor and Head of Cricketing Operations, and Prasad, who resigned as the bowling coach.
