IPL 2022: RPSG group owned Lucknow franchise appoint Andy Flower as Head Coach
Zimbabwe batting great Andy Flower is all set to be appointed the head coach of one of the two new franchises based in Lucknow ahead of the next year’s edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), reports have stated.
As per a report in the Times of India, Flower was one of the six coaching candidates that the yet unnamed Lucknow franchise had been in talks with and has now been finalised as the man to oversee the side in its first-ever IPL season. An official announcement in this regard is awaited.
Andy Flower was with the Punjab Kings (PBKS) franchise till the end of the IPL 2021 but resigned from his post a few weeks ago, which was considered a telling sign that he could be roped in by some other team.
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“Andy Flower has been around for a long time. He has a solid reputation as a T20 coach, having been around the world coaching various franchises. He brings with him some rich IPL experience as well and knowledge of these conditions. He seemed to be the right choice for Lucknow,” sources privy to the discussions on the matter were quoted as saying by TOI.
Andy Flower to coach Lucknow franchise in IPL 2022
Andy Flower is set to continue his association with the IPL.
Indication of Andy Flower joining one of the two new IPL franchises also came in the form of him declining an offer to coach the Pakistan men’s national side earlier this year. Flower interestingly joined the Afghanistan side as a consultant for the T20 World Cup in UAE but has opted to keep his focus largely on T20 franchise gigs around the world, with the IPL being a major point of his CV.
Apart from being involved with the PBKS till IPL 2021, the ex Zimbabwean skipper has been associated with the Multan Sultans in Pakistan Super League (PSL) and St Lucia Zouks in Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
Flower, though, is most renowned for his coaching work with England back in the day when he played a major hand behind their success from 2009 to 2014. The 53-year-old supervised England’s remarkable Test series wins in Australia and India on their way to achieving the No.1 rank in the longest format. He was also head of the support staff when England won the 2010 T20 World Cup in the West Indies.
Flower played 63 Tests and 213 ODIs for Zimbabwe, recording 4,794 Test runs at 51.54 and 6,786 runs with a strike-rate of 74.59.