Rajasthan Royals appoint Paddy Upton as head coach

Paddy Upton has been appointed the new head coach of Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. Upton replaces Monty Desai, who was the Royals coach for the last two IPL seasons. Upton, 44, is the performance director of the South African national team and held the same position with Pune Warriors in IPL 2012.

Upton said he was looking forward to working with Rajasthan Royals. "It is an honour for me to coach a dynamic team like Rajasthan Royals. It will be wonderful to work with Rahul [Dravid] once more. The team has some very talented players who have been noticed by the cricketing fraternity because of their phenomenal attitude and undying team spirit. Going into the new season, I am looking at instilling fresh confidence into the team."

Rahul Dravid, the Royals captain, who has worked with Upton in the past, said that he was looking forward to the association. "I greatly respect him for his knowledge and professionalism. We welcome him to Rajasthan Royals and look forward to working with him in the coming months."

Upton worked with the Indian team till the 2011 World Cup as the mental conditioning coach and was an integral part of the support staff led by former coach Gary Kirsten.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have signed Abhinav Mukund and Sunny Sohal for the sixth season of the IPL.

Mukund, 23, played for Chennai Super Kings previously and was released after the last season. He has played 15 domestic T20 matches and has scored 235 runs at an average of 18 and strike rate of 100. He was recently the captain of the India A team that played a List A match against England XI prior to the ODI series.

Sohal, a right-handed batsman, was released by Deccan Chargers after the fifth IPL season in which he did not play any matches. His last game was in IPL 2011. He has played 32 domestic T20 matches and scored 511 runs at an average of 19 and strike rate of 117. He represented Kings XI Punjab in the first three editions of the IPL.