Sunil Joshi appointed Punjab Kings spin-bowling coach

Sunil Joshi has returned to Punjab Kings, this time as spin-bowling coach, ahead of the 2023 edition of the IPL.

Joshi, who was till recently a senior national men's selector, was a part of Kings in the past too - as head coach Anil Kumble's assistant - but after being appointed to the position in late 2019, he left to take up the job in the selection panel in early 2020. He had earlier been a part of Royal Challengers Bangalore as a player in 2008 and 2009, the first two seasons of the tournament.

He will join Kings' support staff that is now headed by Trevor Bayliss, who replaced Kumble at the helm after the 2022 season, where Kings finished sixth on the ten-team table. Wasim Jaffer has been brought back as batting coach too, and Charl Langeveldt as the bowling coach of the team in a complete overhaul of the backroom staff.

Within the playing group too there has been a change at the top, with Mayank Agarwal released ahead of the recent auction, and Shikhar Dhawan elevated to the position of captain. Agarwal has since been bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Joshi, who had served as the spin-bowling coach of the Bangladesh national men's team before being appointed by the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab in 2019, became India's chairman of selectors in 2020 before being replaced by Chetan Sharma in 2022, though he continued to be a part of the committee till after the 2022 men's T20 World Cup.

During his playing days, Joshi - a stalwart of Indian domestic side Karnataka through the 1990s and 2000s - played 160 first-class games, 163 List A matches and 15 T20s. Internationally, he represented India in 15 Tests and 69 ODIs between 1996 and 2001, picking up 110 wickets across the two formats with his left-arm spin, and scoring 936 runs.