Simon Katich has resigned from his position as assistant coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad, after being in the position for barely two months.
While there has been no word from Katich or the franchise, ESPNcricinfo can confirm that he has left his role with immediate effect. It is also learnt that in his official communication to the franchise, Katich said he was uncomfortable staying inside the IPL bubble and away from his family for such a long period.
Simon Helmot, who had previously worked as the Sunrisers assistant coach, is understood be Katich's replacement. Helmot recently won the CPL 2021 as head coach with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots, and was also head coach of WBBL team Melbourne Renegades, who finished second on the table and lost the Challenger in the playoffs.
It was only last December that Katich was appointed as one of the assistant coaches when the franchise carried out a revamp of its coaching staff which included Tom Moody's move from director of cricket to head coach.
A report in the Australian on Friday, however, quoted sources as saying that "Katich disagreed with the way the team was being managed and felt pre-auction plans were disregarded" in Bengaluru last weekend.
Katich, formerly the assistant coach (to Jacques Kallis) at Kolkata Knight Riders and head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, was present throughout the auction, sat alongside fellow support-staff members Moody, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan and Hemang Badani, and is understood to have resigned immediately after the auction, which ended on February 13.
The former Australia international had also left Royal Challengers midway through the 2021 IPL, during the UAE leg, when Mike Hesson had to double up as head coach as well as director of cricket. The reasons for Katich's exit from Royal Challengers was never made public.
At the auction, Sunrisers spent big on Nicholas Pooran (INR 10.75 crore, USD 1.43 million), Washington Sundar (INR 8.75 crore, USD 1.16 million) and Rahul Tripathi (INR 8.5 crore, USD 1.13 million). They also splurged on Romario Shepherd (INR 7.75 crore, USD 1.03 million) and the uncapped Abhishek Sharma (INR 6.5 crore, USD 866,000).
And prior to the auction, Sunrisers retained Kane Williamson, who is likely to lead the side if fit, as well as two uncapped Indians, batter Abdul Samad and tearaway quick Umran Malik.
Sunrisers were also in the news during the 2021 IPL, when they first sacked David Warner as the captain and then dropped him altogether, with Warner later saying the whole thing was "a bitter pill to swallow, but I don't think I will ever get answers and must move on". Warner, who had led Sunrisers to the IPL title in 2016, was initially barred from sitting in the team's dugout during games too.
As for the support staff, then head coach Trevor Bayliss and assistant coach Brad Haddin left at the end of the 2021 season, paving the way for Moody to return as head coach. VVS Laxman, the team's mentor, also left to take charge at the BCCI's National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.