Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra has joined IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore as a coach. Nehra, who was RCB’s bowling mentor in IPL 2018, has now been handed over coaching duty and he will be a part of the Gary Kirsten-led coaching leadership team.

"We are very happy to have Ashish Nehra join RCB as part of the coaching leadership team. Ashish and Gary will partner the Captain to help the team deliver better performance," Sanjeev Churiwala, Chairman, Royal Challengers Bangalore said on Nehra's appointment.

In IPL 2018, RCB didn’t perform to their potential. Despite the services of elite players like Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock, RCB had finished sixth in the group stages with 12 points from 14 matches.

Just a week ago, RCB replaced Daniel Vettori with Gary Kirsten as a head coach. However, they kept Nehra in the fold for the next edition.

Nehra, who retired from international cricket in November 2017, expressed his gratitude towards RCB’s team management for considering him in a leadership role.

"I had the privilege to join the coaching team of RCB last season and feel very passionately about the team. I want to thank the team management for considering me in a leadership position with the franchise and look forward for the successful seasons ahead," Nehra asserted.

It is worth mentioning here that Vettori had served RCB as a head coach since 2014 but the Bangalore-based franchise couldn’t win the title during his tenure. It will be interesting to see the approach and performance of RCB under Kirsten-led coaching team.