Gareth Batty has stepped down as the head coach of English county Surrey to become an assistant to Zaheer Khan at Indian Premier League side Chennai Super Kings.

Batty was among the names touted as a possible contender for the England Test job after Brendon McCullum was sacked.

But the 49-year-old former Surrey and England off-spinner lost out to Stephen Fleming, who left CSK after 18 seasons in July ahead of taking over as England Test coach.

Batty guided Surrey to three successive County Championship titles from 2022-2024 but they only finished seventh this season.

He also had seven years as a player at Worcestershire, where he was a team-mate of Zaheer, and Batty will now be working with his old colleague after the former India fast bowler was announced last month as the Super Kings’ head coach for the 2027 campaign.

– AFP

Photo: X/@surreycricket