Simon Katich quits SunRisers Hyderabad, pre auction plans ignored?

SRH have recruited Simon Helmot to take over Katich’s role. Helmot, 50, was previously part of the coaching staff of the Hyderabad team from 2012 to 2019. He recently coached the Trinbago Knight Riders side in the Caribbean Premier League.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have confirmed that assistant coach Simon Katich has parted ways with the franchise. The Hyderabad franchise stated that Katich made himself unavailable because of bio-security restrictions and family issues.

“He would have been needed for two and 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 about family issues and we have agreed to release him,” a franchise spokesman told Cricbuzz on Friday (Februay 18). “We will be announcing a replacement soon.”

SRH have recruited Simon Helmot to take over Katich’s role. Helmot, 50, was previously part of the coaching staff of the Hyderabad team from 2012 to 2019. He recently coached the Trinbago Knight Riders side in the Caribbean Premier League.

Katich, who was appointed as SRH assistant coach less than two months ago in a major support staff rejig, has previously been associated with two other IPL franchises, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Last year, he had to cut short his tenure with RCB ahead of the UAE leg due to family issues.

He did not respond to a query from Cricbuzz, nor did Tom Moody, the head coach of the franchise. Meanwhile, reports from Australia have suggested that Katich disagreed with how the team was managed and felt pre-auction plans were disregarded.

Katich participated in the two-day mega auction in Bangalore last week where Moody and other members of the support staff including Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Hemang Badani were present too. The franchise representatives were frequently seen talking to someone over phone on the auction proceedings and it later came to light that the person at the other end was Kane Williamson, who is going to be the captain of the side.

SRH, who finished with the wooden spoon in IPL 2021 after five straight years of making the Playoffs, have been shrouded by leadership instability. David Warner had a public and ugly fallout with the franchise last year leading to axing from the side midway through the season. The franchise also parted ways with coach Trevor Bayliss and assistant coach Brad Haddin at the end of the year.

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