The Durban-based franchise of the new CSA T20 league, which is owned by the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjeev Goenka group, has appointed Lance Klusener as the head coach of the franchise.
It has come as a bit of a surprising decision because earlier it was expected that LSG would probably opt to go into the CSA T20 league with their IPL coaching staff itself.
LSG has got the services of a very illustrious coaching staff in the IPL, which includes the head coach Andy Flower, the assistant coach Vijay Dahiya and the mentor Gautam Gambhir.
While Gautam Gambhir has been a two-time World Cup winner and a two-time IPL winner, Vijay Dahiya has been the assistant coach of a very successful KKR side before he got a gig at LSG.
As far as Andy Flower is concerned, he has coached in various leagues all around the world and with a reasonable amount of success. But, he might have other commitments around the time the CSA T20 league is supposed to be held and it’s because of his unavailability, that LSG might have to opt for Lance Klusener, who will bring a tremendous amount of local knowledge and cricketing experience into the Durban set-up.
Lance Klusener was one of the superstars of his time
Lance Klusener was one of the great all-rounders of his time, particularly in white ball cricket, but he has also had several coaching gigs, a few with the smaller nations, and a brief gig with his national team South Africa as well, in the capacity of a batting consultant. But, this is the first instance of Klusener taking over as the head coach of a franchise side in a much anticipated T20 league.
It remains to be seen if Gautam Gambhir joins the Durban franchise of LSG as a mentor. The former Indian left-hander was a key part of the support staff of LSG in their inaugural season in the IPL earlier this year and was one of their chief decision makers.
