Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday announced the appointment of former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara as the director of cricket for the upcoming season.
Sangakkara, who is the current president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), will now be responsible for overseeing the entire cricketing ecosystem of the Royals including coaching structure, auction plans and team strategy, talent discovery and development. He will as well see the development of the Royals Academy in Nagpur, the franchise said in a statement.
"It's a privilege to be joining the Rajasthan Royals and I am excited about the new challenge. 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," Sangakkara said while commenting on his appointment.
"I have really enjoyed speaking to the leadership group over the recent weeks and can't wait to get going. The team includes some of the world's best players and great personalities so it's going to be fun and very exciting to work with this group," he added.
Newly appointed RR captain Sanju Samson said: "He (Sangakkara) is someone who has had an exceptional cricket career himself and obviously understands the modern game. It's great to have an all-time wicketkeeping great with us, he is someone who's donned many hats, he was a fantastic keeper-batsman, he's led Sri Lanka with grace and class throughout and has done it for years with the Sri Lankan national team across formats."
"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. It is wonderful to have someone like him at the helm and is going to be fantastic to learn from him. I can't wait to get started and work with him in the coming seasons," Samson added.
Sangakkara, in his hugely successful 16 cricketing years scored over 28,000 runs for Sri Lanka and has the highest Test batting average of any player in the last 46 years.
The southpaw in his first IPL back in 2008 started with a stylish fifty on debut against MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings (CSK). That first season saw him amass 320 runs in 10 games, guiding Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) to a top-four finish.
The following seasons saw the southpaw maintain the consistency with him scoring consistently over 300 runs in his first four seasons.
In his final IPL season in 2013, Sangakkara turned up as a leader for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), leading the side both on and off the pitch and helping them secure a playoff spot.
(With inputs from agencies)