Jaipur: Sri Lankan batting legend Kumar Sangakkara on Sunday (January 24) joined Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals as the director of cricket for the upcoming season.
Adding some 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝘆 to the #RoyalsFamily. 💗#WelcomeSanga | #HallaBol | @KumarSanga2 pic.twitter.com/4zREps1PlW
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) January 24, 2021
The current President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Sangakkara will be in charge of looking after the complete cricketing environment of the franchise including coaching structure, auction plans and team strategy, talent discovery and development, as well as the development of the Royals Academy in Nagpur.
“To oversee the cricket strategy of a franchise in the leading cricket competition in the world, as well as building the development programs and cricketing infrastructure that will provide the future foundation of the IPL team’s on-field success is an opportunity that really motivated me,” Sangakarra was quoted as saying in a media release.
Sangakarra has scored over 28,000 runs for Sri Lanka over a hugely successful 16-year long career and has the highest Test batting average of any player in the last 46 years.
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Sanju Samson, who earlier replaced Australian Steve Smith as captain of the Royals for the upcoming season of IPL, was delighted to have the veteran keeper on board.
“It’s great to have an all-time wicketkeeping great with us, he is someone who’s donned many hats, he was a fantastic wicket-keeper-batsman. He’s someone who’s shown great character both on and off the field and the values that one associate with him are the same which we embody here at Rajasthan Royals,” Samson said.
