Sunrisers Hyderabad part ways with Dale Steyn, new bowling coach appointed

SRH has parted ways with Dale Steyn, as they have appointed a new bowling coach. James Franklin, a former Mumbai Indians player, has been appointed for the new role. It looks like the fans are not too happy with the decision. As SRH took to their social media handles to announce the same, there was anguish among the fans for the decision to change the bowling coach.

While many felt that the South African did a good job for SRH in the last two seasons of the IPL, others claimed that the team did not have good results under him in the bowling department. In 2022, SRH had a bad 2nd half and ended the league as a bottom-ranked side. In 2023, things went worse as they ended the league at the bottom-most position.

Steyn was the bowling coach for SRH in 2022 and 2023. In the period, SRH did not have a good time. The criticism of Steyn was the poor bowling lineup of SRH in the IPL 2023. Barring Mayank Markande and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, other bowlers did not seem to be up to the mark. It was probably the reason behind SRH going for a new bowling coach for IPL 2024.

The challenge for James Franklin

James Franklin was an all-rounder who played for New Zealand mostly in the 2000s and a bit in the 2010s. He was a good bowler for New Zealand and was handy with the bat too. In the IPL, Franklin played for Mumbai Indians for a couple of seasons in 2011 and 2012. He got a golden opportunity to open the innings in some of the games alongside a legendary batter like Sachin Tendulkar.

Franklin played in the IPL when MI were trying to find an able batting partner for Sachin at the top. While Dwayne Smith did that job for a brief period, Rohit Sharma came as a blessing in disguise for MI and asked Lendl Simmons to open. The challenge for Franklin in his new role would be to help SRH to become a good bowling side.