IPL 2018: Chennai Super Kings rope in Eric Simons as bowling consultant

Chennai Super Kings have roped in former South African all-rounder, Eric Simons as their bowling consultant.

The news about Simmons was confirmed by the franchise itself on its social media account –

Yello Lions! The newest Lion in the Pride is from the South African Safari! Put your whistles together for Eric Simons, our Bowling Consultant. For a super awesome summer ahead! #SummerIsComing ?? pic.twitter.com/TBDiMXBTAH

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) February 14, 2018

Simmons has earlier been part of now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiant franchise as well, where he worked with Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

He will be joining the star cricketers like Stephen Fleming, Michael Hussey and former Indian pacer Laxmipathy Balaji in CSK franchise.

Fleming is the Head Coach of the side while Hussey will perform the role of the batting coach.

Balaji was appointed as the bowling coach of CSK a few days back.

Eric Simmons has also been part of Team India backroom staff in past. He was the bowling consultant of the side from 2010 to 2012.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are making a comeback in IPL after a period of two years. The Chennai based franchise was banned in 2015 for a period of two years after 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal that rocked Indian cricket.

Along with CSK, Rajasthan Royals were also banned and both franchises were replaced by Rising Pune Supergiant and Gujarat Lions.

The comeback franchises are all set for action in the upcoming season.

Talking of CSK’s pre-season preparations, the franchise had retained three players on the IPL retention day.

MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina were no-brainer retentions made by the franchise while it also retained all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja.

On the auction day, the franchise used it’s Right to Match (RTM) card on Faf du Plessis (Rs 1.60 Crore) and Dwayne Bravo (Rs 6.40 Crore).

MS Dhoni will continue to lead the team in IPL. The former Indian captain led the team in first eight seasons, which also includes two IPL trophies.

He was appointed as the captain of Rising Pune Supergiant in IPL 2016 but was replaced by Steve Smith in the next season.

CSK will look to mark a heroic comeback in the upcoming IPL season.

CSK squad: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Faf du Plessis, Harbhajan Singh, Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Ambati Rayudu, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur, N Jagadeesan, Santner, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Kanishk Seth, Ngidi, Dhruv Shorey, M Vijay, Billings, Mark Wood, Kshitiz Sharma, Monu Kumar, Chaitanya Bishnoi.

Follow more news about IPL 2018 here.

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