Sports

How New SRH Coach Vettori Helped Chahal 

Former New Zealand captain replaces Lara at Hyderabad

Daniel Vettori.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad appointed former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori as their head coach on Monday. 

The former left-arm spinner, with over 650 wickets across Tests and ODIs, comes in place of Brian Lara, who had a forgettable two seasons at the franchise. 

Sunrisers finished 10th in IPL 2023, and their last play-off appearance was in 2020.

Vettori had earlier helmed coaching at Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2014 to 2018, taking them to the playoffs in 2015 and the final a year later. In addition, he was the Australian men's team's assistant coach recently, and he also had a stint with Bangladesh as a spin consultant. 

Currently, Vettori is coaching Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred.

"Kiwi legend Daniel Vettori joins #OrangeArmy as Head Coach," the Sunrisers announced on their Twitter handle. 

What Vettori brings to the table can be gauged from the experience of Indian legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who was among those who benefitted from Vettori’s sagacity at RCB.

“He told me that it's all about wrist position and by changing it at the last moment, it would become difficult for a batsman to read it. I realised then that you don't have to change the action and the only key factor is the wrist position. To this date, that advice helps me,” Chahal once said in a chat with teammate R Ashwin.

“He clearly told me there are 14 matches in the tournament (IPL) and it is a T20 format. You can have 3-4 bad games, but for the remaining 10 matches, the economy must be under seven. I don't want you going for 8-9 runs per over in seven matches and seven runs per over in the remaining games. I'm giving you a 3-4 match margin,” Chahal added.

Sunrisers have gained a reputation for frequently changing coaches. In the last six seasons, Vettori is their fifth head coach. 

Tom Moody was their head coach in IPL 2019, then Trevor Bayliss came in for the IPL 2020 and 2021 seasons.