Kumar Sangakkara joins Rajasthan Royals as director of cricket

Rajasthan Royals, on Sunday, announced the appointment of former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara as the Director of Cricket for the upcoming Season 14 of the Indian Premier League. Sangakkara will commence work with the team immediately.

Sangakkara, the current President of the Marylebone Cricket Club, will be responsible for overseeing the entire cricketing ecosystem of Royal’s franchise including coaching structure, auction plans, and team strategy, talent discovery, and development, as well as the development of the Royals Academy in Nagpur.

Kumar Sangakkara joins Rajasthan Royals

Commenting on his appointment, Kumar Sangakkara said: “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. 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.”

Sangakkara

An undisputed great of the modern game, Sangakkara scored over 28,000 runs for Sri Lanka over a hugely successful 16-year and has the highest Test batting average of any player in the last 46 years.

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The southpaw first graced the IPL in its inaugural season back in 2008, and started with a stylish fifty on debut against MS Dhoni’s CSK.

That first season saw him amass 320 runs in ten games, guiding Kings XI to a top-four finish. The following seasons saw the southpaw maintain the consistency that people came to expect of him, scoring consistently over 300 runs in his first four seasons.

In his final IPL season, back in 2013, Sangakkara turned up as a leader for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, leading the team both on and off the pitch, helping them secure a playoff spot in an extraordinary manner.

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