Muzumdar appointed SA batting coach for India series

JOHANNESBURG: Cricket South Africa (CSA) has appointed former Mumbai batsman Amol Muzumdar as batting coach for South Africa’s three-match Test series against India, which starts on October 2 in Visakhapatnam.The 44-year-old last played at the first-class level for Andhra in 2013 and has since held several coaching positions, besides being a TV commentator. Muzumdar’s specialist role for this tour mirrors the one former Sri Lanka batsman Thilan Samaraweera played for New Zealand during their Test series in Sri Lanka last month.Muzumdar will join team director Enoch Nkwe’s coaching staff, which comprises Vincent Barnes (assistant bowling coach) and Justin Ontong (assistant fielding coach). Muzumdar got the offer last week from CSA acting director of cricket Corrie van Zyl, and accepted the interim role readily, looking at it as an opportunity to work with an international team.Asked whether it would be a challenge for him to coach at the highest level despite having never played international cricket, Muzumdar told ESPNcricinfo, “This is a myth that people carry in India and I would like to break it. I don’t think experience of playing at international level matters if you know the subject very well. I am dealing with batting at all levels, which is a subject for me. And if you know your subject thoroughly then the experience and all doesn’t matter.”Muzumdar’s 20-year career as one of the most prolific run-scorers in Indian domestic cricket - he made 11,167 runs at 48.13 - is expected to help on that front. “Amol is a perfect fit for us,” van Zyl said. “He brings an intimate knowledge of Indian playing conditions and the challenges our batsmen are likely to face. He also assisted us at the spin bowling camp we held recently in India and thus has already built up a good working relationship with Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma and Zubayr Hamza.” South Africa last toured India in 2015-16 and found it particularly difficult to tackle India’s spinners, going past 200 in only one of the seven innings they batted in.

from The News International - Sports https://ift.tt/2ULh6nu