The latest update means Sunrisers will have a fourth head coach in six seasons, with Tom Moody (2019 and 2022), Trevor Bayliss (2020 and 2021), and Lara (2023) preceding Vettori. Lara had replaced Moody ahead of the 2023 IPL season, but the side finished last (tenth) with four wins and ten losses.
At the moment, Vettori is head coach of the Birmingham Phoenix men’s team at the Hundred, and since May 2022, has been with the Australia men’s national side. His coaching resume also includes stints with Barbados Royals in the CPL, with Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League and with Middlesex in the Vitality Blast, all as head coach, and a spell as spin-bowling consultant with the Bangladesh men’s national team.
In his previous run as a head coach in the IPL, Vettori helped RCB get into the playoffs in 2015 and the final in 2016 where, incidentally, they lost to Sunrisers.
Sunrisers have had a lean time of it in the IPL in recent years, perhaps explaining the revolving door for the coaches. Since IPL 2021, they have won only 13 games while losing 29.
From 2016 (when they were champions) to 2020, Sunrisers reached the playoffs every season, but they have failed to replicate that success since. They will now hope to end a three-season streak of finishing outside the top four with the combination of Vettori and captain Aiden Markram at the helm.