Surrey head coach Batty leaves to take assistant role at IPL's Chennai Super Kings

Gareth Batty, the former England spinner, has resigned as head coach of Surrey County Cricket Club to join Chennai Super Kings, a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL, India's top franchise cricket competition), as an assistant coach. He announced the move on the club's website.

Batty has been in charge since 2022. In his first three seasons Surrey won the County Championship, England's domestic first-class competition, three years running, making them the first side in almost 60 years to do so. The club also reached T20 Finals Day twice under him.

A long association with the club

Batty's connection with Surrey lasted 21 years. As a player he first joined the club in 1998, leaving Yorkshire, and stayed until 2001. He then spent seven seasons at Worcestershire before returning to Surrey, who play at The Oval, in 2010. He was club captain from 2015 to 2017. In total he appeared more than 350 times for Surrey and took more than 500 wickets across all formats. He played nine Tests for England. He retired as a player in 2021 and immediately joined Surrey's coaching staff.

Reaction

Batty said that "thank you" hardly seemed enough for what Surrey had meant to him, and described the new journey as very exciting for him and his family.

Surrey's director of cricket, Alec Stewart, said Batty had given the club a great deal as both player and head coach and had shown outstanding commitment. Stewart said the club was sorry to see him leave but understood the opportunity was too good to turn down. He added that the role would allow Batty to spend more time with his family outside the IPL season.