HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Ranji cricket team will have a new coach in SL Venkatapathy Raju this season. The former Test left-arm spinner and National selector has replaced Kanwaljit Singh, who has been appointed ‘chief coach’ and Talent Resource Development Officer (TRDO).
Explaining the reasons for replacing Kanwaljit with Raju, MV Sridhar, who was recently appointed as secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, said the executive committee decided to utilise the services of Kanwaljit in a much larger role in identifying talent for next generation. “It was the decision of the executive committee,” said Sridhar.
This development should come as a shock for Kanwaljit, who was recently part of the victorious Deccan Chargers team that won the IPL II in South Africa.
In the past, coaches like Arshad Ayub, Rajesh Yadav and Vivek Jaisimha held the post for two years. According to Sridhar, Kanwaljit has accepted this new role as chief coach. The former wily off-spinner was unavailable for comments.
Meanwhile, 39-year-old Raju, who is involved in the National Cricket Academy spinners camp in Bangalore, said he would be happy to coach the Hyderabad team. Raju, incidentally, was the coach of the Orissa team last season after his term as National selector got over last year. “It is a new role and a new job,” said Raju.
Raju said Hyderabad was a young team and he would guide the players.
“We have to take the players into confidence.
It is more of man management,” said Raju, who took 93 wickets from 28 Test matches.
Meanwhile, Indian Cricket League players have been allowed by the BCCi to play in the local leagues in the new season. These will commence from Wednesday.
Sridhar said that barring Vinay Kumar, all the ICL players have been a given a no-objection certificate. Players like Alfred Absolom, Indra Sekhara Reddy, Ibrahim Khaleel, Anirudh Singh and Ambati Rayudu had joined the ICL league two years ago.
Venkatapathy Raju, who played in two World Cups, said the return of the Indian Cricket League players augurs well for Hyderabad cricket. “It’s good for Hyderabad cricket. There will be more competition. If these players perform well in the local leagues, then they will be considered for the Ranji team,” said Raju, adding, “they won’t go by big names. It is the performance that matters while picking the team.”
