Chaminda Vaas, the former Sri Lanka fast bowler, was on Saturday announced as the fast bowling coach for Indian Premier League (IPL) side Delhi Capitals.
Vaas joins a rather star-studded coaching staff, which includes Yuvraj Singh as assistant coach and is headed by former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
“World Cup winner and Sri Lanka’s best ever. Welcome to Tiger Territory, coach,” the franchise posted on its official X handle. One of Sri Lanka’s greatest ever bowlers, Vaas was active in the early iterations of the IPL, playing for the erstwhile Deccan Chargers in the first three seasons of the league.
He won the title with them in 2009. Vaas only played sparingly in those three seasons though, taking a total of 18 wickets in 13 matches.
A key member of Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup-winning team, Vaas was renowned for his ability to swing the new ball, maintain accuracy and deliver across conditions. Vaas took 355 Test wickets in 111 matches for Sri Lanka.
He also took 400 ODI wickets in 322 matches and six T20I wickets in as many games. The 52-year-old had made his debut in an ODI against India in February 1994 and his last international was a Test match against Pakistan in July 2009 in Colombo.
Vaas previously served as the Sri Lankan men’s team’s bowling coach in three separate stints. His coaching career began with a brief contract with New Zealand before he was appointed to the Sri Lankan side from 2013 to 2015.
In 2016, Vaas was appointed Ireland’s bowling coach for the T20 World Cup before being re-hired by Sri Lanka. The Delhi franchise is still searching for its maiden IPL title. The team reached the final only once, in the 2020 season, and failed to make the playoffs in the last two seasons.
DC missed out on the playoffs last season by one point, finishing fifth with 15 points in 14 games. They had emerged as the early pace setters, winning their first four matches on the trot and winning all but two of their first eight matches.
However, then came five winless matches, which included four losses, which left them out of reckoning for the playoffs.
Source: The Indian Express
--Agencies
