TATA Indian Premier League may be over, but the ramifications are now setting in. Royal Challengers Bangalore have parted ways with Mike Hesson the former New Zealand coach. In his place comes former Zimbabwean stalwart and former English coach, Andy Flower. The former left hander was the head coach of Lucknow Super Giants last year and parted ways with the KL Rahul led side after Justin Langer replaced him at the dugout.
The story as it happened –
Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday appointed Andy Flower as the head coach for the 2024 TATA IPL season. Flower, was one of the reasons for England’s emergence as a test cricket giant in the late 2000’s to mid 2010’s. Andy Flower parted ways with Lucknow Super Giants after they failed to qualify for the play-offs last season.
Royal Challengers Bangalore put out a tweet welcoming Flower –
Once the news of Andy Flower joining RCB was confirmed, the team put out a tweet. RCB taking to Twitter wrote “we are beyond thrilled to welcome ICC Hall of Famer and T20 World Cup winning coach Andy Flower as the head coach of RCB’s men coach. Andy’s experience of coaching IPL and T20 teams around the world, leading his team to titles”
We are beyond thrilled to welcome 𝗜𝗖𝗖 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿 and 𝗧𝟮𝟬 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽 winning coach 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 as the 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 of RCB Men’s team. 🤩🙌
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) August 4, 2023
Andy’s experience of coaching IPL & T20 teams around the world, and leading his teams to titles… pic.twitter.com/WsMYGCkcYT
LSG respond to RCB’s tweet –
Andy Flower’s old team Lucknow Super Giants were quick to respond as they posted a eyeball emoji and wrote “this should be fun… go well Andy”. The reply to the tweet from LSG has taken social media by storm. It is no secret that Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore enjoy a deep rooted rivalry.
Bangalore and Lucknow’s rivalry in 2023 –
Lucknow beat RCB in a close game by 1 wicket off the last ball to spark of mad celebrations. This was followed by the now famous game at Lucknow where RCB beat the home team in a low scoring game.
The post game scenes saw some fiery moments as Naveen Ul Haq and Gautam Gambhir had a public spat with Virat Kohli the former RCB skipper. The scenes led to some potentially fiery moments as the players from each team got involved to separate the duo from the fracas before the matter escalated.