IPL: RCB name Andy Flower as head coach, parts ways with Mike Hesson and Sanjay Bangar

By India Today Web Desk: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Friday, August 4 announced the appointment of Andy Flower as their head coach. The former Zimbabwe cricketer takes over from Sanjay Bangar, who served as the head coach of the former finalists in IPL 2023.

Andy Flower finds new home in the IPL in Bengaluru after having worked with Lucknow Super Giants over the last two years. Flower joined LSG when the franchise was making its debut in 2022. He worked closely with mentor Gautam Gambhir and captain KL Rahul and led them to the playoffs in their first two seasons. LSG roped in Australian great Justin Langer as their head coach after parting ways with Flower earlier in July.

Meanwhile, RCB also confirmed that they have parted ways with Mike Hesson and Sanjay Bangar.

Notably, Hesson was appointed to lead the RCB team management in 2019 and the New Zealand tactician led them to three successive playoffs before RCB narrowly missed out on the top 4 spot in IPL 2023.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome ICC Hall of Famer and T20 World Cup-winning coach Andy Flower as the Head Coach of RCB Men’s team,” RCB said in a statement.

“Andy’s experience of coaching IPL & T20 teams around the world, and leading his teams to titles at the PSL, ILT20, The Hundred and Abu Dhabi T10 will help in developing a championship-winning mindset and take RCB’s Play Bold philosophy forward,” it added.

Andy Flower is all set to work with Faf du Plessis, who has done a fine job since taking over as captain of RCB from Virat Kohli.

Flower, who scored more than 10,000 international runs in 63 Tests and 213 ODIs for Zimbabwe, has had an extensive coaching career.

In 2020, Flower was appointed as the head coach for Multan Sultans and St Lucia Zouks, and as an assistant coach Punjab Kings. The following year, he took up the role of head coach for Lucknow Super Giants. In 2023, he was appointed as the head coach for Gulf Giants in the International League T20.

During his tenure, Flower led the Multan Sultans to their first-ever playoffs in the 2020 season. He also guided the Zouks to their first-ever finals appearance in the Caribbean Premier League.

Before these achievements, Flower had a successful stint as the coach of the English cricket team from 2009 to 2014. Under his guidance, England won the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, and he became the second foreign coach in the team’s history.