SunRisers Hyderabad has named James Franklin as their new fast bowling coach for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2024 season, following Dale Steyn’s withdrawal from the position due to personal reasons, as officially disclosed by the team on Monday. Reports regarding this development had been circulating in the Indian media over the past week.
James Franklin, aged 43, previously represented Mumbai Indians during the 2011 and 2012 seasons as a player but is embarking on his first coaching role in the IPL.
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 pic.twitter.com/CefHEbVSLy
---Advertisement---— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) March 4, 2024
While Franklin may be new to coaching in the IPL, he brings coaching experience from his tenure with Durham in English county cricket and as an assistant coach with Pakistan Super League (PSL) team Islamabad United.
At SunRisers Hyderabad, Franklin will reunite with former teammate Daniel Vettori, who assumed the role of head coach after the IPL 2023 season. The duo previously collaborated at Middlesex in county cricket and Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred.
Franklin, a former New Zealand cricketer, boasts an international career comprising 31 Tests, 110 ODIs, and 38 T20Is spanning from 2001 to 2013.
In addition to Franklin’s appointment, SRH also announced Pat Cummins as their new captain for IPL 2024, succeeding Aiden Markram. Cummins, who fetched a hefty sum of Rs 20.50 crore during the IPL 2024 auction, becomes the second most expensive player in the tournament’s history.
This announcement follows a previous report by IndiaToday.in, which indicated Cummins’ impending appointment as the team’s captain for the upcoming season.
Expressing his sentiments ahead of his debut for SunRisers Hyderabad, Cummins remarked that India holds a special place for him akin to a second home.
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