With pressure to perform, Zaheer Khan will bring calmness in the team: Jonty Rhodes

NEW DELHI: Former South Africa cricketer and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) fielding coach Jonty Rhodes believes that Zaheer Khan, recently appointed as the mentor of the franchise, will significantly benefit the team with his calm demeanor, especially in meetings and player performance enhancement. The announcement of Zaheer's new role was made on Wednesday at an event held at the RPSG Group Headquarters in Kolkata."Zaheer Khan will definitely bring the calmness in the team. Having someone like Zak (Zaheer Khan) around will be of great help for the franchise. The team meetings, selections meetings, franchise meetings with owners you need calm head because the tournament goes up and down as per results, you need that support and consistency. Fortunately, we had that support earlier too, on and off the field but we need to continue that," Rhodes told IANS."Team is no longer a brand new franchise it has been around for three years now, so obviously the pressure is there to perform. We need to acheive what we plan, to reach playoffs, we haven't reached final yet, so with Zak and his calmness I think it will be very important for the franchise also with the technique and bowling experience that he carries will benefit franchise," he added. Zaheer will fill the mentor position left vacant after Gautam Gambhir's departure post IPL 2023. The 45-year-old former pacer joins LSG's coaching staff, which includes Justin Langer as head coach, along with assistant coaches Lance Klusener and Adam Voges. Currently, the team does not have a bowling coach after Morne Morkel left the role to take up the same position with the Indian team.In the IPL 2024 season, Lucknow Super Giants finished seventh on the points table with seven wins and seven losses.