Thiruvananthapuram: Former Australia pacer Shaun Tait is among the prominent names who have applied for the coaching vacancy with the Kerala cricket team for the 2024-25 domestic season. The 41-year-old Tait has previously served as Pakistan’s bowling coach.
The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has received ten applications for the post so far. Former Australian cricketer and renowned coach Dav Whatmore, who won the 1996 World Cup with Sri Lanka, was in charge of the Kerala Ranji Trophy team for two seasons, leading them to the semi-finals in 2018-19.
Former India and Tamil Nadu off-spinner M Venkataraman, who replaced Tinu Yohannan as the head coach of the Kerala cricket team for the 2023-2024 season, recently resigned from his post citing personal reasons. Last week, the KCA put up an advertisement on its social media handles inviting applications by August 15.
Last year, Kerala failed to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Ranji Trophy.
Former India internationals Devika Palshikar and Rumeli Dhar will be in charge of the Kerala women’s team for the 2024-25 season. Devika has been the assistant coach of the Indian and Bangladesh women’s teams and has been the batting coach of Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League. Rumeli was the head coach of the Odisha women’s cricket team.
Baba Aparajith will play for Kerala
Former Tamil Nadu cricketer Baba Aparajith is all set to play for Kerala in the upcoming season. The 30-year-old all-rounder will join the squad as the second outstation player, replacing Karnataka’s Shreyas Gopal.
Baba, a right-handed batsman and off-break bowler, was part of the Indian Under-19 team that won the 2012 World Cup. He is the son of Dr. RN Baba, former media manager of the Indian national cricket team. His twin brother Baba Indrajith is a member of the Tamil Nadu senior cricket team.
Meanwhile, KCA has decided to retain Madhya Pradesh and India A all-rounder Jalaj Saxena, who has been playing for Kerala since the 2016-17 domestic season. The 37-year-old Saxena has been struggling to regain his batting form, so he is unlikely to feature in Kerala’s ODI and T20 teams, it is learned.