Rajasthan Royals on Monday announced that former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond will join the franchise in the dual role of Assistant Coach and also the team's new Fast Bowling Coach ahead of next year's IPL 2024 season. One of the standout modern-day fast bowlers, Bond has, in the past, served as the Bowling Coach for his national team between 2012 and 2015 where he helped them reach the final of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.
He was then employed by the Mumbai franchise in the IPL in 2015, contributing significantly to their success of winning four titles in nine seasons. Under his guidance, several fast bowlers, including renowned names like Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Trent Boult, and more, transformed into T20 specialists.
The 48-year-old will be reuniting with the latter at the Royals, along with potentially working on improving the current core of fast bowlers which includes Prasidh Krishna, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Kuldeep Sen, Obed McCoy, KM Asif, and Kuldip Yadav.
"It will be awesome to work alongside them" - Shane Bond excited to work with Rajasthan Royals' pacers
Meanwhile, Shane Bond expressed his first thoughts after signing with the Royals and stated:
"I'm delighted to be joining the Royals. It's a forward-thinking franchise who are determined to do well and I'm excited about being part of their vision. The bowling group is a great mix of youth and experience, and it will be awesome to work alongside them," said Bond.
The Royals narrowly missed out on a playoffs spot in IPL 2023 after reaching the finals in the 2022 edition.
