Simon Katich has resigned from his role of SunRisers Hyderabad assistant coach after holding the position for just two months.
IPL 2022
In Katich’s official communication with the franchise, he said that he was uncomfortable in staying inside the IPL bubble and away from his family for such a long period. Meanwhile, Simon Helmot who had previously worked as the SRH assistant coach has been named as his replacement.
“He would have been needed for two and a half to three months here, including for the pre-IPL camps and he felt it was too long to be inside a controlled bio-bubble. He has also mentioned family issues and we have agreed to release him,” a franchise spokesman told Cricbuzz on Friday (February 18). “We will be announcing a replacement soon”, SRH said in its Official Release.
Simon Helmot was the Heach coach of the St Kitts & Nevis franchise that has won the CPL 2021. He also reaped the fruits of success during the WBBL 2021 as his franchise Melbourne Renegades finished at the second spot in the Points Table. Helmont was previously associated with SRH’s coaching department from 2012 to 2019 & has also coached the Trinbago Knight Riders to the CPL title in 2015.
It was only in December 2021 that Katich was appointed as the assistant coach of SRH when the franchise was carrying out the revamp of their coaching staff which included Tom Moody’s move from director of cricket to head coach. He had also served as the assistant coach at KKR & Head coach at RCB in the previous seasons of the Indian premier league. However, he had to resign as RCB’s Head Coach ahead of the UAE leg of the IPL 2021 due to family issues.
Recently a report in the Australian on Friday had come into the limelight which claims, “Katich disagreed with the way the team was being managed and felt pre-auction plans were disregarded” in Bengaluru last weekend. Simon Katich was present throughout the IPL 2022 auction along with his fellow support staff members Moody, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Hemant Badani & only after the conclusion of the auction Katich has resigned from his position.
At the auction, Sunrisers spent big on Nicholas Pooran (INR 10.75 crore, USD 1.43 million), Washington Sundar (INR 8.75 crore, USD 1.16 million), and Rahul Tripathi (INR 8.5 crore, USD 1.13 million). They also cashed out on Romario Shepherd (INR 7.75 crore, USD 1.03 million) and the uncapped Abhishek Sharma (INR 6.5 crore, USD 866,000). And prior to the auction, Sunrisers retained Kane Williamson, who is likely to lead the side if fit, as well as two uncapped Indians, Abdul Samad and Umran Malik.
SRH was in the limelight during the IPL 2021 because of their rifts with their former captain David Warner. The franchise first sacked David Warner as the captain and then dropped him altogether, with Warner later saying the whole thing was “a bitter pill to swallow, but I don’t think I will ever get answers and must move on”. David Warner who had led SRH to the IPL title in 2016 was barred from sitting in the team’s dugout during games too.
Key members of SRH’s support staff have resigned leaving the team in trouble. Head coach Trevor Bayliss and assistant coach Brad Haddin left at the end of the 2021 season, paving the way for Moody to return as head coach. VVS Laxman, the team’s mentor, also left to take charge at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
During the IPL 2022 auction, SRH failed to grab the services of any players from the marquee set & they didn’t fair much in the auction. Whether SRH would be able to make it to the Playoffs or their struggle will continue is a wait & watch thing!