Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have announced their new director of cricket and a new head coach as they parted ways with Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra, who were the head coach and bowling coach respectively.

RCB finished on the last place in the points table in the IPL 2019 after they won five, lost eight and one ended in no result. This is the second time they have been the wooden spoon holders in the tournament. This has led them to name former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson as the Director of Cricket Operations while naming former Australia batsman Simon Katich as the Head Coach of the team.

"RCB's purpose is to be the most trusted, respected and best performing T20 Franchise and hence our constant endeavor is to create a culture of excellence and high performance for every member of the team. To deliver this ambition we are very happy to announce the appointment of Mike Hesson and Simon Katich. We believe that Mike's extensive experience in building strong teams along with Simon's powerful cricket experience will help us create a winning culture," said Sanjeev Churiwala, Chairman of Royal Challengers Bangalore in an official release on Friday, Aug 23.

"As a result of this restructuring exercise, we will be moving to a single coach model. Consequently, we would like to thank Gary Kirsten and Ashish Nehra for their contribution over the past two seasons. They leave us with a legacy of having given several young players the confidence to show their ability on the highest stage. Everyone at Royal Challengers Bangalore wishes them all the best in the future," he added.

Mike Hesson had applied for the post of head coach of Indian team as well but lost out to Ravi Shastri. He had previously coached Kings XI Punjab in IPL. Meanwhile, Simon Katich had parted ways with Kolkata Knight Riders, where he was the batting coach of the team.  

(Cricbuzz inputs)