Andrew McDonald exits Rajasthan Royals, Zimbabwe's Penney roped in to assist Sangakkara

In yet another major push to revamp the Rajasthan Royals think tank, the franchise announced on Sunday that it has parted way with its Head Coach Andrew McDonald. Eyeing their second IPL title, the Royals have roped in former Zimbabwe cricketer Trevor Penney as the Lead Assistance Coach to assist Kumar Sangakkara who has been brought in as the Director of Cricketer Operations. After having won the inaugural season of the IPL, the Royals have failed to repeat their success, leading to a major revamp as they even parted ways with former skipper Steve Smith just before the auctions. 

As part of the restructuring, the Royals have transited Amol Mazumdar to High Performance Batting coach to support the RR squad. Moreover, Sairaj Bahatule will continue as the spin bowling coach, Dinesh Yagnik as the fielding coach and Rob Cassell will head the bowling department. 

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'Fantastic to have Penney'

"It is fantastic to have Trevor Penney on board here at Rajasthan Royals. He is very experienced and understands the game very well which I am sure will help contribute to the players and squad's overall growth. I am confident Trevor's appointment is going to set us on the right pathway and it will be wonderful to have him work with our squad," Kumar Sangakkara said. 

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Trevor Penney has worked with the Sri Lankan national team as an assistant coach and later as a Head Coach. In May 2007, the WACA announced Penney's appointment as assistant coach of the Western Warriors under Tom Moody and has also worked with India as a coach. Previously, he was a part of the think tank of Punjab Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. 

Rajasthan's big buys at the IPL

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) franchise purchased eight cricketers at the Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) auction, including the costliest buy in the history of the tournament. South African all-rounder Chris Morris smashed all records on Thursday as he went under the hammer. The Proteas power-hitter, who played a T20 international back in 2019 and represented RCB in the IPL 2020, became the most expensive buy in the history of IPL as Rajasthan Royals acquired him for Rs 16.25 crore. His base price was set at Rs 75 lacs. England batting dynamite Liam Livingstone, South African all-rounder Chris Morris, Bangladesh speedster Mustafizur Rahman were among the overseas players purchased by the Rajasthan Royals at the IPL 2021 auction. 

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