For Franklin, who played for Mumbai Indians in 2011 and 2012, this will be his first coaching stint at the IPL. At Sunrisers, Franklin, a former left-arm fast bowling allrounder, will link up with Daniel Vettori, who was appointed as the head coach by the franchise after the 2023 season. The pair has previously worked together at both Middlesex (county cricket) as well as Birmingham Phoenix (the Hundred). Franklin was also the head coach at Durham, and currently is at the PSL as an assistant coach at Islamabad United.
Sunrisers have a host of fast men in their ranks including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pat Cummins, Marco Jansen, Umran Malik, T Natarajan, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Jaydev Unadkat and the uncapped Indian Akash Singh. The spinners’ lot include Wanindu Hasaranga, Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed.
Vettori and Franklin will be confronted with a stiff challenge considering Sunrisers finished eighth in 2022 and slid further to 10th last year. One key contributing factor for the team’s regression has been the frequent change in leadership. Former Australian allrounder Tom Moody was replaced last year by former West Indies captain Brian Lara, who was dropped after just one season.
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