He was associated with the Rajasthan Royals for multiple years.
Former India cricketer Sairaj Bahutule is set to join forces with the Punjab Kings ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. Bahutule, who was associated with the Rajasthan Royals for multiple years, brings a vast experience of spin bowling. He is expected to resume his duties with the runners-up after parting ways with Rajasthan Royals post the 2025 season.
Before joining the champions of the first IPL season, Bahutule was actively involved as the spin bowling coach at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE). According to a few reports, the 52-year-old has already started scouting for the Punjab Kings ahead of the next season. With Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting at the helm, the franchise would love to get their hands on the coveted trophy after narrowly missing out in the recent season.
The former Indian leg-spinner is set to take the spot of Sunil Joshi, who recently parted ways with the Punjab Kings. Joshi, who was with the Kings for four years as the spin-bowling coach, left the role to assume the same responsibilities at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.
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If things work out, the runners-up of the 2025 season would be more than happy to have Bahutule in the mix, along with the already strong support staff. However, the mood in the Rajasthan Royals’ camp would not be as happy. The franchise has experienced a roller-coaster of emotions in the last three months, with a lot of forces in the management parting ways.
To add to that, the franchise finished ninth in the points table last season, which was a dismal performance. They were expected to make some changes to their setup, but what has happened would be much more than what they would have expected. After the confusion regarding the departing of Sanju Samson, Rahul Dravid stepped down as the head coach of the franchise.
And it did not stop there. Soon after, Bahutule and Dishant Yagnik, both left the franchise to make matters worse. On top of all that, CEO Jake Lush-McCrum also parted ways with the franchise after the speculation of an internal dispute. All said and done, the franchise finds itself in a tough spot and are surrounded by problems – the answers of which they must find soon.
In some positive news coming in, Kumar Sangakkara, who was the Director of Cricket for the Rajasthan Royals would be stepping into the role of the head coach for the upcoming season. The Sri Lankan legend has an experience of coaching the franchise. Under his watchful eyes, the team qualified for the Final in 2022, only to lose to the Gujarat Titans.
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