J Arunkumar to sign as the new coach of Hyderabad domestic team

Former Karnataka player, Jagadeesh Arunkumar is set to become the new coach of the Hyderabad domestic team for the upcoming 2017/18 season. Arunkumar, who is currently a part of the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) is expected to be in Hyderabad for further discussions over the new role in the next couple of days. The 42-year-old acted as the coach of his Karnataka domestic team for the last five domestic seasons starting from 2012/13 season.

Details:

During his tenure, Karnataka won the Ranji Trophy, Irani Cup, and Vijay Hazare Trophy all three in consecutive seasons; 2013/14 and 2014/15. If everything goes as expected, Arunkumar will be seen replacing Bharat Arun as the coach of Hyderabad. Bharat Arun led a deprived Hyderabad side to the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy last season and also tasted a decent amount of success in the limited-overs tournaments. However, the Indian team head coach Ravi Shastri choosing Bharat’s experience for the team’s bowling attack left Hyderabad with the option of roping in a new coach.

“He (J Arunkumar) will be coming on August 24 and we will discuss with him in detail, once he comes here,” said T Shesh Narayan, secretary of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) speaking to Telangana Today. Arunkumar also reacted over this saying, “I’m committed to Karnataka Premier League here and so I would not be able to come immediately. I would be in Hyderabad for two or three days to sign the contract.”

Career:

Arunkumar was roped in as the batting coach of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Kings XI Punjab during the last season. He also took over as the head coach of the KPL team Bellary Tuskers in 2016, which went on to win the title. The Bangalore-born opening batsman made his professional cricket debut for his home team Karnataka in the 1993/94 season and played for more than a decade before moving to Assam in 2005 for a couple of seasons and later represented Goa as well in 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons. Arunkumar featured in 109 FC games by scoring 7208 runs and 3227 List A runs in 100 matches but never got an opportunity to represent the national team.