New Delhi, Aug 28: Former India left-arm fast-bowler Zaheer Khan has been appointed as mentor of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), in a formal event held at the RPSG Group Headquarters in Kolkata on Wednesday. "All your anticipation ends here! The King of reverse swing, Indian legend #ZaheerKhan takes charge as the mentor of @LucknowIPL," wrote the RPSG Group, owners of the LSG franchise, on their ‘X’ account.
Zaheer will be filling in the mentor role left vacant at LSG after Gautam Gambhir's exit post IPL 2023. Gambhir later became Kolkata Knight Riders’ mentor this year, and led them to their third IPL title in Chennai. In July, he succeeded Rahul Dravid to become India men’s head coach.
The 45-year-old Zaheer joined LSG's coaching set-up featuring Justin Langer as head coach, along with Lance Klusener and Adam Voges assistant coaches. The side doesn’t have a bowling coach yet after Morne Morkel left the role to take up same position with the Indian team.
As a player, Zaheer represented Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Delhi Capitals, playing 100 matches, and taking 102 wickets at an economy rate of 7.58.
Various reports have also mentioned that Zaheer, a member of India’s 2011 ODI World Cup winning team, would also be the franchise’s talent development programme head, although an official word on this is yet to come.
He was previously involved with the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise from 2018 to 2022, where he first served as director of cricket and then head of global development.
IPL 2023 and 2024 seasons saw the former pacer be a member of the commentary team for digital broadcasters JioCinema.
LSG was bought by Sanjiv Goenka in 2022 for INR 7090 crore and have their home ground at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The side reached the playoffs in IPL 2022 and 2023 seasons, before bowing out of competition in the eliminator clashes twice.
LSG missed out on a playoff spot in IPL 2024 due to a negative Net Run Rate (NRR), leading to them finishing at seventh place in the points table.
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