Karnataka cricket team coach P.V. Shashikanth and assistant coach G.K. Anil Kumar have been replaced by Yere Goud and S. Arvind, the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) announced, here, on Friday. Goud and Arvind take on the roles of batting and bowling coaches respectively.
Shashikanth and Anil - the duo were appointed at the start of the 2017-18 season - faced the axe despite a good show. Karnataka won the Vijay Hazare Trophy, reached the semifinal of the Ranji Trophy and finished as runner-up in the Deodhar Trophy during their tenure.
For S. Arvind, it will be a quick transition from player to coach. The left-arm seamer, who featured in one Twenty20 international, had retired from first-class cricket only in February 2018. “I have been coaching at the KSCA U-23 academy. I have also been helping out with the State U-19 team,” Arvind said.
“The senior team has done well, but in the last three years, we have not reached the Ranji Trophy final. We just need to get a little better. The advantage for me is that I know all the players. I know them as people; I know their mindset. I know what to say to each of them,” Arvind said.
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Goud, a veteran of 134 first-class matches for Karnataka and Railways, was earlier the State under-19 coach. “Under my coaching, Devdutt Padikkal (fourth highest run-getter) and Shubhang Hegde (third highest wicket-taker) did well in the Cooch Behar under-19 tournament. I have also coached U-16 State teams. I think my good stints with the junior teams helped me get this job,” Goud, 46, said.
A miffed Anil, however, did not take kindly to his removal. “It is very unfair. The team had done well in our tenure, so we should have been given at least another year. Shashikanth and I took some tough decisions with regards to team selection. Perhaps, this did not go down well,” Anil said.
KSCA Secretary Sudhakar Rao stated, “We wanted a change. Goud has played more than 100 first-class matches and he understands the system because he has coached the State junior teams. We wanted to promote him. Arvind is very experienced.”
On Shashikanth and Anil, Sudhakar said, “We haven't dropped them. We will make use of their coaching abilities in the KSCA Academy.”
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