Sunil Narine will lead LA Knight Riders (LAKR) in the inaugural season of the MLC starting July 13 in the USA. Narine and his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mate Andre Russell are among the big names at the Knight Riders franchise that also named Phil Simmons as their head coach in the MLC. LAKR will kick-start MLC against Texas Super Kings at the Grand Prairie Stadium.
"I've always spoken about wanting to represent the Knight Riders wherever they play," Narine said in a Knight Riders release. "We've long talked about coming to the United States and I'm glad it's finally happening. As captain of this side, I am looking forward to the challenge. There are a lot of experienced guys in this team who I can bounce information off, so it will be an exciting time for us. We hope for all Knight Riders fans in America to come out and support us, and all those around the world to keep cheering for us."
The LAKR squad also features Lockie Ferguson, Jason Roy, Rilee Rossouw, Martin Guptill and Adam Zampa among the other international names.
Simmons will be assisted by Bharat Arun as the bowling coach, Ryan Ten Doeschate as the assistant coach and AR Srikkanth as the team analyst. Arun is also the bowling coach for KKR in the IPL.
Simmons brings with him extensive coaching experience from both international cricket and T20 leagues around the world. He served as the head coach of the West Indies teams twice (2015-16 and 2019-2022) and was also with the Zimbabwe (2004-05), Ireland (2007-2015) and Afghanistan (2017-19) teams.
In the T20 circuit, he was recently named the coach of Trinbago Knight Riders - the most successful team in the CPL - and also won the title with Barbados Royals (then Tridents) in 2019. This year, he also led Dubai Capitals to the playoffs in the inaugural edition of ILT20.