IPL 2022: Lucknow rope in Vijay Dahiya as assistant coach

The two new franchises in form of Lucknow and Ahmedabad are all set to get going from the fresh season of IPL. Moving in line to strengthen their setup, Lucknow have roped in former wicketkeeper-batter Vijay Dahiya as franchise’s assistant coach. The 48-year-old belongs to Haryana and stands to be the current coach of the Uttar Pradesh team.

It has to be noted that Dahiya has experience working as an assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, who have won the title twice in 2012 and 2014. Adding more to his credentials for the same role, he has worked as a talent scout for the Delhi Capitals and has coached the Delhi Ranji side as well.

“I am delighted and grateful for the opportunity given to me to work with the Lucknow IPL franchise,” said Dahiya in a statement as quoted by Times of India.

Gautam Gambhir will primarily have a motivational role to play: Sanjiv Goenka

Talking more about the franchise’s development, Lucknow have earlier appointed Andy Flower as the head coach while naming IPL winning skipper Gautam Gambhir as the mentor of the side. The owner of the Lucknow group, Sanjeev Goenka emphasized the importance of roping in Gambhir and the former cricketer also expressed his happiness on the same.

“Gautam will primarily have a motivational role to play. He will also help to create a blueprint for the franchise in the long term. We wanted to have people with a proven track record of success. Gautam has also successfully groomed a generation of youngsters for KKR and that went in his favor. He has an image of being a totally non-partisan leader with a focus on results. Look at what he did for KKR. Fundamentally we would like the dressing room to be geared towards a culture of performance,” said Goenka earlier.

“The fire to win a contest still burns bright inside me. The desire to leave a winner’s legacy still kicks me 24×7. I will not be contesting for a dressing room but for the spirit and soul of Uttar Pradesh,” said Gambhir after his new appointment.