The Kiwi replaces former South African fast bowler Dale Steyn, who has requested the franchise to give him a break for this season owing to personal reasons.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have appointed former New Zealand paceman James Franklin as their fast bowling coach for the upcoming season of Indian Premier League. Legendary pacer Dale Steyn, who was SRH’s bowling coach for last two seasons, decided to skip the next edition due to personal reasons.
James Franklin is the new pace bowling coach of SRH.
During his time at SRH, Steyn worked with several young talents – including Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Marco Jansen, Kartik Tyagi and others, he groomed them and helped them make an impact on the big stage.
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SRH announced the big change in the coaching staff on Monday on their social media account.
“Dale Steyn will not be joining us this season due to personal reasons and James Franklin will be the Pace Bowling Coach for this season. Welcome on board, James! #IPL2024,” SRH posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In his 13-year-long career with theNew Zealand team, Franklin played 31 Tests, 110 ODIs, and 38 T20Is. Meanwhile, he represented Mumbai Indians in IPL for a couple of seasons in 2011 and 2012.
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The Kiwi star has coaching experience with Durham in English county cricket and Pakistan Super League team Islamabad United as an assistant coach.
However, it will be his first coaching stint in the Indian Premier League where he will be assisting his former New Zealand teammate Daniel Vettori.
Earlier, they have worked together at Middlesex in county cricket as well as at Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred.
The 2016 IPL champions have already made big changes in their team management and leadership charge for the next season with Daniel Vettori’s appointment as head coach. While Australia’s Pat Cummins was named the new captain taking over the charge from Aiden Markram.
In the 2023 season, SRH finished bottom of the heap under Aiden Markram’s captaincy with only four wins in 14 league games.
Markram’s feat of leading Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the inaugural SA20 title this year did not help him retain the SRH captaincy, though he remains in the squad.
The SRH leadership role has been changing hands for the last three years. It started with David Warner’s sacking as captain in the 2021 season with Kane Williamson taking over the charge who was later released from the team after IPL 2022.
Meanwhile, Markram is the latest one to face the heat of sacking as SRH skipper.
SRH will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on March 23.
