Indian Premier League’s maiden season’s champion franchise – Rajasthan Royals has named Kumar Sangakkara as Director of Cricket for the upcoming season of league. The franchise based issued a statement on January 24. The Royals stated that the Sri Lankan legend will commence work with team on the immediate basis.
It has been seen that the Royals are are planning differently for the upcoming IPL season. Earlier this week, the franchise parted ways with Steve Smith, while they named Mike Fordham as their new CEO. For the 14th edition of the IPL, they have retained 17 players & released 8 players.
According to the statement from the Rajasthan Royals, the 43-year-old Sangakkara “will be responsible for overseeing the entire cricketing ecosystem of the Royals franchise, including coaching structure, auction plans and team strategy, talent discovery and development, as well as the development of the Royals Academy in Nagpur.”
Sangakkara, the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club, debuted for his national side in 2000. In his elite career as a player, wicket-keeper and the captain of Sri Lanka, the 43-year-old became one of the biggest name in the cricket fraternity. He played close to 600 international games where he scored over 28000 runs.
In his playing days, the Sri Lankan has had played in six seasons of IPL for three franchises – Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Chargers, and Sunrisers Hyderabad. After being seven seasons away from the league, Sangakkara is coming back to the league but this time his roles will be changed.
While commenting on his new role Sangakkara said, “To oversee the cricket strategy of a franchise in the leading cricket competition in the world is an opportunity that really motivated me. I have really enjoyed speaking to the leadership group over the recent weeks and can’t wait to get going.”