Former Zimbabwe skipper and renowned coach Any Flower will reportedly replace Mike Hesson as the Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) director of cricket.According to a report by Cricbuzz, RCB are close to finalizing a deal to appoint Flower while the addition of AB de Villiers to the coaching staff as a mentor is also a growing possibility.Flower served as the head coach of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) for the last two seasons, leading them to the playoffs on both occasions. The two parties recently parted ways as LSG chose to appoint former Australian opening batter Justin Langer as their new head coach.
Flower's involvement extends to several T20 teams worldwide, including the St. Lucia Zouks in the CPL (2020), Multan Sultans in the PSL (2021), and Gulf Giants in the ILT20 (2023). Additionally, he served as a consultant within the Australian team's coaching staff during the recently concluded Ashes series. In fact, he was part of the Aussies dressing room for the last three Ashes Tests.
RCB saw a turnaround in their fortunes since Mike Hesson's appointment, which came after a testing phase for the side. The team had finished at the bottom of the table on two occasions in the matter of three seasons. However, from the 2020 edition, they secured a place in the playoffs three times in a row, but the wait for the elusive trophy continued.In the 2023 season, RCB narrowly missed out on a playoff berth. They were handed a defeat in the final league-stage match courtesy of Gujarat Titans (GT) batter Shubman Gill's brilliance at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
