Lance Klusener named as Kovai Kings coach

Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener has been named as the coach of the Kovai Kings for the upcoming edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). The Kovai Kings are a Coimbatore-based franchise and is owned by Lyca Productions. However, the addition of Klusener is certainly a high-profile one. The announcement was made by Raju Mahalingam, the Chief Operating Officer of Lyca Productions.

Lance Klusener has been involved in coaching ever since his retirement from international cricket. His most recent assignment came when he served as the assistant coach for the Zimbabwe team in their series against India. It is widely expected that Klusener will join up with the team for the unveiling of the team logo. “We plan to have a big launch in August, and Klusener could come for that,” mentioned Mahalingam.

“Yes, we have finalized Klusener as our coach for this season. We have signed him for a period of three years. All the terms and conditions have been agreed upon and the final formalities are being worked out at the moment,” Raju Mahalingam, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Lyca told TOI on Friday.

Further reports have gone on to suggest that R Venkatesh, the former Tamil Nadu, and Railways off-spinner will serve as the in-charge for cricketing operations.

“Venkatesh has played the game for the state, and has also been involved in the administrative activities of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) over the years, and he fitted the bill perfectly. We got a lot of applications and after carefully scrutinizing them — we zeroed in on Venkatesh,” a source close to the development told TOI.

“While Venkatesh will be the GM (General Manager) for Cricket Operations, we have appointed Akshay Srikanth will be GM for Marketing Services. Akshay is a capable individual who donned the role of marketing manager with Big FM earlier,” mentioned the source.

Also, check out – Ramaswamy Prasanna set for coaching role for the upcoming TNPL