Lance Klusener joins Tripura as a consultant ahead of the upcoming domestic season

Former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener to work with Tripura state team.

Former South Africa all-rounder Lance Klusener will be joining the Tripura Cricket Association as a consultant for India's upcoming domestic season.

Lance Klusener, who played 49 Tests and 171 ODIs for South Africa from 1996-2004, was also Delhi's consultant coach for the 2018-19 season. He is currently the coach of the Durban Super Giants in the SA20 tournament. He has previously worked as the batting coach of South Africa and Zimbabwe and was the head coach of Afghanistan in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

He dropped his application to become the upcoming white-ball coach for South Africa earlier this year. He was one of the six applicants Cricket South Africa interviewed; however, he decided to forego the process and focus on T20 franchise positions.

We hope the cricketers will benefit from Lance Klusener's vast international experience: TCA vice-president Timir Chanda

According to Timir Chanda, the Vice-president of Tripura Cricket Association, Lance Klusener will work for a total of 100 days in the season and will work with all the teams, and not restrict himself to the Ranji Trophy squad.

“We had put up an advertisement on our website a few weeks ago for the job, and Lance had applied for the role along with Dav Whatmore. Though Dav later pulled out due to family commitments, Lance was keen on taking up the offer.

Lance’s experience will help our cricketers immensely. It’s a matter of pride for us to have someone of his stature coming in as the consultant of Tripura. We hope the cricketers will benefit from his vast international experience. Our cricketers are also excited to work with Klusener,” Chanda was quoted as saying by Sportstar.

Klusener’s manager Kaustuv Lahiri confirmed the development.

“Lance has agreed to take up the role of a consultant and will spend a total of 100 days with the Tripura team. He will come in initially for a 20-day camp in Agartala and will follow it up with more visits later on,” Lahiri said.

He is expected to meet India international Wriddhiman Saha, who captained Tripura last season and has renewed his contract for another season.

“We have already re-signed Wriddhi and Sudip Chatterjee for the forthcoming season. We will need to appoint a coach who will work closely with Lance, so we will discuss that with Wriddhi and others and then take a decision,” Chanda said.