Zaheer Khan, who took over as the head coach of Chennai Super Kings, had his first meeting with the team management in Chennai on Monday, to finalise his support staff.
Having let go of a majority of the support staff who assisted Stephen Fleming over the years, CSK have pressed for a complete overhaul of the set-up.
It is learnt that the 48-year-old will also meet MS Dhoni in the coming days in Mumbai before he arrives in Chennai to have a first-look of the team before deciding on the retentions ahead of the November 15 deadline. With the franchise not even in the race to make the play-offs last season, significant changes are expected in terms of releasing a few players that will allow Zaheer & Co to enter the mini-auction with a significant auction purse.
When it comes to the support staff, former England batsman Gareth Batty is set to join CSK and so is Albie Morkel, who was part of the franchise’s successful years in the past and is now the head coach of Johannesburg Super Kings. Mohit Sharma will be around as the bowling coach.
With the franchise set to have its trials next month ahead of the mini-auctions, CSK will have their whole support staff in place by then with a formal announcement expected later.
While CSK have parted ways with Michael Hussey, Eric Simons, Rajiv Kumar who were all part of Fleming’s team, James Foster who came on board in 2026 as fielding coach will continue in his role. Foster, has joined Stephen Fleming in England’s Test team as an assistant coach, but since his assignments don’t overlap with the IPL, will keep his position at the five-time champions. Similarly, Sridharan Sriram will continue to be part of the set up with each of their new roles expected to be defined later.
One of the key areas CSK wants to strengthen is overseas players. While the franchise had always had a strong overseas presence with each one capable of winning games on their own, over the last couple of seasons that has been lacking. But whether the franchise is able to fix that gap in the mini-auction would depend on the pool available this time.