Former Gujarat captain Mukund Parmar to coach Andhra

Former Gujarat captain Mukund Parmar has been appointed as the lead coach of Andhra for the 2014-15 domestic season. Parmar played 83 first-class matches for Gujarat, scoring 6674 runs with 20 centuries and 30 fifties at an average of 49.80. He will replace R Sridhar, the former Hyderabad spinner, who left Andhra to join the Indian support team as a fielding coach.

Parmar, who has completed an NCA Level C course, coached India Under-23s to the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup title in 2013, with a win over Pakistan Under-23s in the final. During the 2012-13 season, Parmar served as the head coach of Gujarat and he led the team to victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic T20 competition.

Parmar's main task will be to lift the performance of a team which endured a poor 2013-14 domestic season. Andhra finished seventh in the weakest group of the Ranji Trophy, and the results were similarly poor in the limited-overs tournaments. They came last in the South Zone group of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and failed to qualify for the Super League. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, they finished third in their group, behind Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Parmar's first assignment will be against Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, on November 7.