Moody is a highly experienced coach

Former Australia all-rounder and Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody has been appointed as the head coach of the newly formed Hyderabad Sunrisers Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise.

The Hyderabad franchise was bought by the Sun TV network in October last year and it announced that former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) national selection chairman Kris Srikkanth will mentor the side, while ex-India middle order batsman VVS Laxman will be team’s mentor-ambassador.

“This is a proud moment for us as we unveil our new name and logo and we are sure that the team will be successful in the forthcoming season of IPL 2013,” Moody said. “We are keenly looking forward to it and our game will stand testimony to the competition we will give to other teams.”

Moody is a highly experienced coach, having been in charge of the Sri Lankan national side for two years, during which the national team made it to the finals of the 2007 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.

He has also been head coach of the Kings XI Punjab franchise for the first two seasons of the IPL and held other coaching roles at Worcestershire and in his home state of Western Australia.

Moody has already worked closely with Sri Lanka wicketkeeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara, who is expected to be the Sunrisers’ skipper in this year’s edition of the IPL.

The Sunrisers have already re-signed South Africa pace demon Dale Steyn and 20 other players from the terminated Deccan Chargers franchise.

However, Srikkanth stated that the franchise will be looking to pick up a few more players during the auction in order to strengthen their team even further.

“We are very keen on [Ambati] Rayudu,” Srikkanth said. “He is a brilliant cricketer. He has been in the ‘A’ team for the last two years.

“If he comes into auction, it is very good. Same with the case of Dwayne Smith, who [was] released by Pune Warrior. The Pakistan players may come into auction. Indian cricketers who made their debut, will come into auction. We know what kind of combination we need for the new season. We want couple of good all-rounders.”

List of Indian players retained by Sunrisers: Abhishek Jhunjunwala, Akash Bhandari, Akshath Reddy, Amit Mishra, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Bharat Chipli, Biplab Samantray, Shikhar Dhawan, Veer Pratap Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ashish Reddy, DB Ravi Teja, Ishant Sharma.

Foreign players: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Cameron White, Dale Steyn, Chris Lynn, Jean-Paul Duminy, Juan Theron.