RPSG signs Lance Klusener as head coach for Durban franchise in South Africa’s T20 League

Kolkata : RPSG Group, the owners of IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants, on Monday announced that they have signed Lance Klusener as the head coach for its Durban franchise in the inaugural edition of the CSA T20 League.

Klusener is a former all-rounder for South Africa, who represented the country in 49 Tests and 171 ODIs from 1996 to 2004, scoring 1906 and 3576 runs respectively apart from picking 80 and 192 wickets respectively.

He was known for his impressive batting and his fast-medium swing bowling.”I am honoured to join the RPSG family. This is a new challenge for me. It makes me very proud. I am looking forward to meet the team,” said Klusener in an official release by the RPSG Group.

Klusener previously coached Afghanistan from September 2019 to December 2021. Under his tenure, Afghanistan won one out of three Test matches, three out of six ODIs and nine out of 14 T20 internationals.

He is currently working with the Zimbabwe men’s team as their batting coach, a role which he had taken on from 2016 to 2018.In the T20 franchise circuit, Klusener had worked as head coach of Rajshahi Kings and Khulna Titans in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) apart from stints in various other leagues.

Last week, RPSG Group, led by Sanjiv Goenka, were amongst the six IPL franchise owners who were revealed as winners of six franchises in South Africa’s upcoming new T20 League scheduled to be held in January and February 2023.

RPSG Group was announced as the winning bidder for the Durban team, months after they purchased the Lucknow team in IPL for a whopping INR 7,090 crores. They had previously owned the now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant franchise in the IPL editions of 2016 and 2017.