Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma named Delhi bowling coach, KP Bhaskar returns as head coach
KP Bhaskar has returned as the head coach of Delhi and Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma was named as the bowling coach.
KP Bhaskar was on Thursday reinstated as coach of the senior Delhi team after a gap of one year while Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma was named as the bowling coach for the 2019-20 domestic season.
The 56-year-old Bhaskar was Delhi’s coach during the 2017-18 season when they lost to Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy final at Indore.
However, a public bust-up with Gautam Gambhir during a domestic tournament in Odisha led to his ouster after the former India star had accused him of promoting factionalism in the dressing room while trying to end careers of a few young players.
Mithun Manhas replaced Bhaskar during the 2018-19 season where the team didn’t particularly do well.
Back in his playing days, Bhaskar was a domestic heavyweight for Delhi, scoring 5443 runs in 95 first-class games with 18 hundreds. He was a part of the Delhi team that won the Ranji Trophy in the 1988-89 season and also played the final against Bengal next year (1989-90).
Sharma, a Dronacharya awardee, is best known for being India captain Kohli’s first and only personal coach till date. He has played 9 first-class and 3 List A games for Delhi between 1986 to 1991.
Under 54-year-old Sharma, the Delhi junior team had won the CK Nayudu (U-23) Trophy in the 2017-18 season and players like Hiten Dalal made the senior grade.
When he wasn’t given a senior team assignment last year, he took up a short term assignment with the Malta national team for an ICC qualifying tournament.
